The Devil's Whisper
by gaia-of-earth
Summary: Sakura is a Psychiatrist for a mental hospital for the Konoha Hospital who then gets moved to her dream job in the Suna Hospital for the Criminally Insane to take care of a very dangerous patient named Gaara. WARNING! Sasuke bashing!
1. Chapter 1

Title: The Devil's Whisper

Short Summary:  
Sakura is a Psychiatrist for a mental ward for the Konoha Hospital who then gets moved to her dream job in the Suna Hospital for the Criminally Insane to take care of a very dangerous patient named Gaara. WARNING! Sasuke bashing!!

Pairings:  
Sakura/Sasuke (Minor), Sakura/Gaara

Warning: Story contains implied and/ or scenes of: major language, torture, rape, angst, adult scenes, serious violence and probably more…

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of its characters. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

Chapter I

Tonight, it was seriously bad.

She knew that it was going to be the worst night of her life when she heard the car door slam and she heard the drunkened laughter coming towards the house. She shivered when she heard them coming. When she heard him coming inside, accidently slamming the door so hard that the small mirror hanging near the door fell to the ground and shatter. She winced when she heard her boyfriend just laugh stupidly with his drunkened friends. She knew it was going to be her who was blamed for that broken mirror. She knew what was going to come soon.

So while listening to her boyfriend downstairs, Sakura Haruno quickly put her book aside and turned off the bedside lamp, pretending to go to sleep. She just hoped that he would just pass out and not even worry about her as soon as he came upstairs. There was a moment's silence before she heard his friends leaving and he came upstairs, probably looking for her. She closed her eyes, clutching at her pillow.

'Please, Sasuke. Just go to sleep. Just go to sleep. Not tonight. Please!' She begged within her mind.

"Hey, Ssssakura. You awake?" Her boyfriend, Sasuke Uchiha slurred his words.

Sakua kept her eyes closed and she didn't even stir. She however, listened as he was stripping himself down, heard the light thud of his clothes hitting the floor of their bedroom. She almost jumped when she felt the covers being pulled back and the bed shifted next to her as he was lying next to her. She swallowed hard as she tried very hard to remain perfectly still, trying to maintain her breathing slowly. But when his cool hands touched her butt, tugging at her short PJ shorts, she sighed, knowingly.

This was going to be a long night.

By the time the sun was slowly rising for the new day, Sakura was sitting in the kitchen table, sipping coffee. She was already dressed for the day, and had been before HE got up. She knew that she should have just gotten dressed and left for work, but then again, she knew that if she didn't make the coffee for that morning, Sasuke would get angry again. Just like he had last night. The side of her face was a little swollen, she knew it was. He had hit her pretty hard for telling him that she wasn't in the mood for sex last night. It ached a little when she swallowed the hot black liquid, making her wince as she hissed softly in pain before sighing and trying to sip some more of her coffee.

Speak of the devil, here he came into the kitchen, groaning a little from his painful hangover.

Sasuke merely glanced over at her as he went over to the cuboard and pulled out the hangover pills. He didn't say anything as he pulled out the small box and then moved over to the sink to get a glass of water. There was a long silence between the two; one filling up the glass and the other keeping her eyes adverted away from his while reaching up and touching her aching jaw. But then she dropped her hand when he moved over to sit across from her. "You know you had it coming, right? You know how I get when you refuse me. I'm sorry I hit you so hard." He said quietly.

Sakura chose not to reply. She knew it was better if she didn't. Instead, she looked out the window again, the light now shining through it, hitting the dark bruise on her chin. Her eyes flickered back to her boyfriend as he tilted his head to see his handiwork before he reached up to touch the bruise. Sakura flinched away from him but didn't move out of reach. She knew that would make things worst for her if she moved away from him. Sasuke, however, frowned before grabbing her chin and forcing her to look at him. He studied the bruise before looking into her emerald green eyes, rather sternly. "Just remember, Sakura. You are mine. No one, and I mean no one will ever love you the way I love you. They will never love you more than I do." He shook his head at her. "Do what I say, when I say it and this won't happen ever again. When I say I want you, you give me what I want. And you will do it, right?" He asked. Sakura just stared into his eyes, wanting to just glare at him. She wished that she didn't love this man so much. She really just wanted to tell him to "Fuck off, Sasuke!" but she couldn't for two reasons. One, she loved him too much, and two, she was so scared of him. But when she didn't answer him, his fingers dug into her skin and he looked highly irratated. "Right?!" He demanded.

Sakura whimpered but quickly nodded to him. "Right. I am yours, Sasuke, and only yours. Please, forgive me." She murmured with a tinge of fear. "But I need to get to work now. So please let me go."

Sasuke frowned at her as he let go of her chin, giving her a very dry look. He didn't look happy at all for that remark. She knew for a fact that he'd rather have her quit her job and stay home to warm their bed so when he got off work, he'd get what he wanted from her. Plus, he wanted her to just be a nice little housewife for him. Or something like it. "I don't like you working there, Sakura. I don't know why you want work in there. Why even bother working? I have enough money to provide for both of us. Why bother?" Sasuke said as he reached up and carressed her face. Sakura almost made the mistake of rolling her eyes in front of him when he said that. She knew if he saw her roll her eyes at him, he would come unglued again. But she also knew that he had a point. He could provide for her. He was the Heir of the Uchiha Fortune after all. He was also a very well respected ANBU, which was the law enforcers for Konoha City. He was rich and she was not. But she didn't want any of it. She did not care about money and she certainly didn't want someone to provide anything for her. She wanted to earn it herself. Plus working helped her get away from him for a while, helped her soothe out her nerves. All she got in this relationship was sex, pain and suffering. That was it. She didn't even feel loved by Sasuke. She felt used, actually.

In the beginning of their relationship, there had been at one point, love. Sasuke had always been the quiet sort of person and somewhat a tough guy. But he was always one of the best looking guys in the entire class of the old Konoha High School. He was so handsome and could have any girl he desired. But for some reason, he had chosen Sakura. He had been so romantic towards her that she felt like she was a goddess around him. She even asked him why he had chosen her and he told her because she was beautiful, rare and had a great knack for excitement. Which was actually true. She was beautiful, rare and had a knack for excitement. She knew she was beautiful. And she knew she was rare. There were hardly any women at all in Konoha City with bubblegum pink colored hair. And even more rare, she had a very big forehead. She absolutely hated her wide forehead but it seemed that Sasuke didn't mind it.

Still, the fact that she had Sasuke Uchiha, the most popular man in Konoha, and was one of the most hottest men in the entire city, not to mention the richest. There was only one other wealthy family as rich as his family but Sakura didn't like them very much. There was only a bunch of snobs in that family, other than just one of them.

But now, Sakura was somewhat regretting her relationship with Sasuke. Ever since his parents were murdered and the death of his older brother, Sasuke had been very different. He was cold, aggressive and he always turned to alcohol to settle his mind. He had become a very different person than what Sakura had fallen in love with. Of course, she had liked his brother, Itachi too. He had been a very good looking fellow and was once considered as a major playboy because there had been so many girls around him. But to Sakura, he was just a very kind person to her. He had treated her with respect, or as if she was his little sister already. He had always been rather quiet, much like Sasuke was. But he was more open with his feelings than his younger brother.

However, now he was dead, or that was what Sasuke told her.

Sakura had tried to ask Sasuke about it once but the first time seemed to be a huge mistake. For he immediately snapped at her, telling her that he never wanted to hear about Itachi again. That was when the abuse began. Sasuke just began to drink heavily and whenever he seemed to be reminded of Itachi, he grew violent. It scared Sakura, of course but she never really said much about it. She just thought it was a phase that Sasuke was going through. Soon enough it would pass over.

But it didn't. The abuse only got worst and worst. Sasuke would go out every night and drink until he was barely conscious and then he would come home, demanding Sakura to let him fuck her. When she refused, he beat her until she was no longer standing. Sakura was too afraid to call it quits. Sasuke had made sure of that. After the first beatings, Sakura told him that it was probably better if they took a break from each other and he just beat her even more, telling her she ever left him, he would make her so sorry that she would wish she was dead. Terrified, Sakura never spoke about it again. She was too afraid too. She didn't really tell any of her friends about it though. She knew that they wouldn't believe her in the first place. Sasuke was a very good liar.

"Fuck!" Sasuke exclaimed before jumping to his feet and running out of the kitchen, making the sound as if he was about to puke.

Obviously that was what he was doing because he was reteching in the bathroom. Sakura just sat there listening to him throw up in the bathroom before she felt extremely ill and as if she was going to throw up by just listening to him. So she stood up, gathering her bags and paperwork before turning and leaving the house. She needed to get to work. She knew she was going to be late as it was.

At 20 years old, Sakura Haruno had graduated from the Konoha University after majoring in three different trades; Medical, Psychiatry and Criminal Justice, which lead her right to the job she had now. She now worked at the Konoha General Hospital, most as a medic, but now and then she would serve as Psychiatrist. For nearly four years she had trained at the University and had had the best Instructors in the entire Country. She had started with the medical trade but then slowly found the desire for Psychiatry and Psychology. After that, she felt a thrill for danger and turned to Criminal Justice. As soon as she learned all that she needed to, she found that she didn't want to just be any doctor to help sick and injured patients but she wanted to help mentally ill patients too. And that also included the dangerous ones.

Many times her friends had asked her why in the world would she want to help dangerous criminals who were mentally unstable, and Sakura just said that she wanted to feel the adventure in what she was doing. It was true, of course. She loved the adrenaline rush when she was around a dangerous patient and loved the fact that she could help them settle down by talking to them. She had become quite the Psychiatrist over the years, and the youngest. At 23 years old, she had been helping over nearly 50 mentally ill patients, helping them find their own sense of mind.

"Good morning, Dr. Haruno." The security guard said as he ate a doughnut or two. Sakura just smiled at him as she walked through the doors of the General Hospital. The security guard was a large fellow, who was always eating something. If her mind served her right, his name was Choji Akimichi.

But then again, she saw his nametag.

"Hello, Mr. Akimichi. How are you this morning?" Sakura said smiling sweetly at the man.

Choji Akimichi just shrugged. He didn't really answer. He was too busy eating as he downed a third doughnut. He never really said anything to anyone anways. It didn't bother Sakura very much as she just kept walking. She was so glad that she had finally arrived at work. She knew she was late and would probably get yelled at her boss, Tsunade.

That immediately made her wince as she made her way down the hall towards the women's locker room. Tsunade. She knew that she would be in it deep if Tsunade saw her coming into work late. She would know that IT happened again. Out everyone that Sakura knew, Tsunade was the only person who knew what happened to her at home. There had been many times that she came to work with bruises on her body and Tsunade would eye her with suspicion. In the beginning, Tsunade had thought that Sakura was just accident prone. The pink haired woman would always give her lame excuses that she hurt herself at home. But the more the bruises began to show up on her employee's skin, she began to realize what was really going on. And therefore, she grew a massive dislike for Sakura's boyfriend.

Speaking of which, Sakura finally reached the Locker room door and the second she pushed through the door, she knew that something was about to happen.

Especially when she saw her boss waiting for her in the locker room, leaning casually against the locker, as if she had been waiting for hours on end. There was a dull look on the beautiful blonde's face as if she was asking, "What took you so long?" But Sakura knew better. Tsunade just rest her head against her fist, which was against the locker before she rose an eyebrow at the pink haired woman. "Two things," She began dryly. "One, you are late. And two, you really need to ditch that fucking bastard. I'm getting tired of you coming into work looking like some poor excuse pink dalmation." She said snappishly. Sakura winced but walked straight over to her locker to put her things away. "It's not what you think, Tsunade. I was...I was just taking a shower and when I got out I just slipped..." She tried for an excuse.

"Eeeeh! Wrong answer." Tsunade said, making the sound of a buzzer. "You've used that excuse before. But nice try."

Sakura winced again, cursing herself, inwardly. She knew she had used that excuse before. She was starting to run out of excuses to telling Tsunade. There was only so many that she could think of while trying to hide the fact that she was getting the hell beaten out of her by her drunkand boyfriend. She figured it was almost time to go to Konoha's famous excuse-machine, Kakashi Hatake for some ideas, who actually happened to be on the ANBU squad, with Sasuke. "Damn it." Sakura grumbled.

"Sakura, you really need to dump Uchiha now. This relationship is getting you nowhere. It's not doing you no good being either a sex toy or a punching back do that asshole." Tsunade said darkly. And when Sakura opened her mouth to argue, she gave her a look of warning for it. "Don't even think about arguing this case. You know I'm right. I'm your boss. I'm always right. Either you do something about him, or I will. You are one of my best doctors and I will not have it that some prick is mistreating any of my doctors. Even if he's some stupid boyfriend who thinks he can get away with anything he wants just because he's fucking rich and he doesn't have someone there to put him in his place, since you won't." She shook her head when Sakura winced at that remark. "Just do something about that bruise and then get to work, Sakura." She said before she turned and left. After a minute of watching her leave, Sakura felt herself smile. She knew that Tsunade was just concerned about her welfare. She was always concerned about her. It made her feel like there might be some hope for her after all.

That morning, Sakura had at least 15 patients to work with. Nine of them were the just normal mentally ill patients while other six were some of the dangerous ones. When it came to working with the dangerous mental patients, Sakura was under orders to have a guard with her. It was how it was. There had only been once that she didn't have a guard to help her out and she had nearly ended up getting stabbed with her own sedatives by one of the dangerous patients. So, she worked with the patients and the guards. She knew all of the guards by now after working with them for so long.

Today's guard was the most fliratatious one, Genma Shiranui.

Genma was a very handsome man nearly ten years older than Sakura and rather interesting in Sakura's point of view. He was entirely a ladiesman, always seen flirting with anything wearing a skirt, unless it was a crossdresser. He was always looking them over, as if undressing them with his eyes. It was something that usually got him into a lot of trouble but everyone knew that he was perfectly harmless. He would never do anything to hurt a woman, not even break their hearts if he had an affair with them. In anything more, they usually loved him a whole lot more once the affair was over. He was a true blue playboy in the city of Konoha. He usually flirted with Sakura, though it was just harmless flirting. Sakura knew that he was just playing around. He did whatever he could just to make a girl smile. Though as rumors went, Sakura had heard that Genma was dating a very wild tempered ANBU member named Anko. A few times Sakura had met Anko and didn't mind her. It was just a wonder how Genma could handle her. She was a whole lot more fliratious than he was.

So once Sakura was done working with the harmless mental patients, she met with Genma at the front desk, and then they walked together down to the D-Section of the Mental Ward. It was Genma's job to make sure that the nurses and doctors working with the dangerous patients stayed safe. All of the patients knew about Genma's reputation and knew that he was one of the many guards they did not want to piss off. He could be pretty rough if he felt like it.

Only a few times his stern behavior scared Sakura. While Sakura worked with giving her patients their shots, he stood in the door way, arms folded over his soldier built chest, giving the patients a daring look to even act up.

Most of today's patients were behaving but there was a few who tried to attack Sakura the minute she stepped into the white painted room. It was like this a lot. However, Sakura never panicked. She trusted Genma enough to come to her aid when she needed it. When one of her patients tried to attack her, Genma would interveine by catching him or her, which most of them were guys, and hold them back so she would give them a sedative. But a few of the patients who took a threatening step immediately backed away when Genma tapped his fist against his thigh. That was a sign he usually gave them that he was in no mood to deal with trouble that day. So there really wasn't very much trouble that day.

Yet.

However, while working with a more mild tempered patient, Sakura immediately whirled around with Genma when there came a deafening crash from somewhere in the ward. It usually was quiet, other than the moaning of the patients. But it was still suspcious. Frowning, Genma tilted his head towards Sakura, looking at her through his long brown bangs and switching his senbon needle to the other side of his mouth. "I think I better go check that out. You gonna be okay?" He asked, eyeing Sakura's patient warningly.

"Don't worry about me. Hirata is behaving today. He won't cause trouble. Won't you, Hirata?" " Sakura said smiling fondly at her patient. The mental patient just looked at her through his dull brown eyes but there was a hint of softness in them. Like some of the patients, this patient actually liked Sakura. He and a few others liked the fact that she talked to them like they were adults while most of the other doctors talked to them like they were just little kids.

Genma only nodded before he quickly turned and left the room to go find the source of the clatter. He didn't want to be gone too long. He shouldn't even be leaving a doctor by theirself in the D-Section. But knowing Sakura, he was sure that she would be fine.

During his absense, Sakura hummed softly as she checked Hirata's vital signs. She knew for a fact that humming always kept the mental patient calm. He absolutely loved her voice and it helped his nerves. But as she wrote down the records on her paper, she heard Genma coming back. She didn't look up, though. She just went back to listening to Hirata's heartbeat and then recorded what she heard. "So, what was it, Genma?" She asked marking down her record.

Genma didn't answer. Instead, he moved closer to her, stopping when he stood right behind her until she could almost feel his breath on her neck.

Sakura paused before rolling her eyes as she went back to checking Hirata's pulse again. "Genma, quit it. I don't have time to be playing the flirting game with you right now. And I can't concentrate with you breathing on my neck like that anyway. Knock it off." She paused for a second. "So what was that crash?"

"The crash is the least of your worries right now, Sakura." Came a very cold reply.

Sakura felt her entire body nearly into a block of ice when she heard that voice. She felt like someone had just hit her over the head, in fact. And she knew for a fact that that voice was not Genma's deep, but warm voice. No, that was actually Sasuke's cold voice. Startled, Sakura spun around only to find him standing nearly an inch away from her, his dark eyes looking into her fearful emerald green eyes. She couldn't believe he was here. Here, where he was NOT suppose to be!

"Sasuke! Wha-what are you doing here?!" Sakura gasped in alarm.

Sasuke just glared coldly into her eyes before he took a step back and folded his arms across his chest, while continuing to glower at Sakura. He didn't even seem to notice the uneasy look on the mentally retarded's, in his point of view, face. He didn't care if he was there. And he did not look amused. Especially that last bit that Sakura had just said before she realized that he wasn't Genma. "I came to see you. Is that a problem?"

Swallowing hard, Sakura glanced at her patient before she quickly began gathering her things and forced smiled at Hirata. "Hirata, you've been really good today. I'll make sure that you get an hour break, okay?" She asked before grabbing Sasuke's arm and pulled him out of the room. She was cursing her boyfriend inside her head. She really wanted to yell at him right now. She knew for a fact that if anyone saw him in the D-Section, she would get into so much trouble. Much less, if Tsunade saw him, he would end up dead. "Sasuke, I am trying to work. You can't be here. You are so going to get me into a whole lot of trouble." She told him as she locked Hirata's door and turned to face Sasuke. She was angry and she was going to let him know. He knew that he couldn't be here but here he was. "What are you trying to do? Get me fired?" She asked moodily.

"Don't you talk to me like that, Sakura." Sasuke said coldly.

Sakura shook her head at him as she folded her arms across her chest, hugging her clipboard. She did not want to have this conversation with him right now. "You need to leave right now, Sasuke. I can't believe you even came down here. You know for a fact that this Section is for Authorized Personnel only." She said, not being able to hold her anger in.

Sasuke eyed her for a minute before his eyes grew darker, almost black. He was now very angry for being lectured by her. He just shook his head before he grabbed her arm and shoved her hard against the wall. Sakura gasped in pain and alarm, but looked up at him with fear. She had dropped her stuff onto the floor, sending papers scattering all over. But that was the least of her worries. She tried to turn and get away from the wall but her boyfriend roughly grabbed her by the shirt and shoved her harder against the wall, making her cry out in pain. "Sasuke...no. Please...not here." She begged silently.

"Shut up!" Sasuke said angrily as he grabbed her roughly by the neck, holding her against the wall. His dark eyes glared angrily right into her fear filled ones. "I came all the way here from work just to see you and this is what I get?! A god damned lecture?! And what's this about a flirting game with a guy named Genma?!" He demanded.

Looking fearfully into Sasuke's black eyes, Sakura couldn't shook her head as she reached up and grabbed his arm, rubbing it as if to soothe his temper. She knew that if he didn't calm down, he was going to cause a scene. Or worst, she was going to get beaten right there at work, in a mental ward, surrounded by the criminally insane. "Sas-Sasuke, th-that was a joke! Gen-Genma is just a friend! I work with him!" She said stammering over her words. She shivered against him when Sasuke tightened his grip on her neck but not enough to hurt her. "Pl-please! You have to leave!"

And that's when he slapped her hard across the face.

Sakura gasped in pain as her head was thrown to the side and then found herself falling to the ground for Sasuke had let her go. She hit the cool floor hard, landing on her side. She whimpered as she quickly turned around to look up at Sasuke, who was glaring down at her with such anger and hatred. He was losing his temper! She knew this was bad! She had to get away from him quickly. "Sas-Sasuke, please..." She begged softly, tears now running down her bruised cheeks.

"You worthless little whore! So you've been playing around behind my back?! Is that it?!" Sasuke snapped angrily as he now lashed out and grabbed Sakura by the front of her shirt, yanking her to her feet. His teeth were clenched tightly as he just made to hit her again. "After all I've done for you! You go and do this!!"

Sakura winced at his raised voice. There was no doubt that someone heard that. But it wasn't just that. Sasuke had just spit into her face while he was yelling at her. And she was now terrified out of her wits. Her weaknesses were showing right now, right in front of her patients. She could see several faces now pressed against the small windows on the doors. Some looked so excited that there was violence right outside their doors. "Sasuke! Please just stop it! Just leave..."

Once again, he hit her hard across the face, only this time it was his fist he used and not his palm.

Excruciating pain flared up in the side of her face and she almost saw stars dancing in her eyes. She could almost feel warm blood now running out of her nose where Sasuke had hit her. She felt rather sick now. He had drawn blood right there in her work place. Worst, he was raising a fist as if to hit her again. She quickly closed her eyes tight, waiting for the painful blow.

"Hey!! What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" came Genma's yell now.

And before she knew it, Sakura found herself falling to the ground after Sasuke had been yanked away from her and there was a loud thud. Her eyes snapped open, only to gasp when her head hit the tiled floor under her. But she caught a good sight of Genma throwing Sasuke into the wall, pressing his face against the white walls. There was definitely a struggle but if there was anything wrong with the whole ordeal, it was the fact that Genma was a lot stronger than Sasuke, even if he was an ANBU. Genma had spent years prying powerful mental patients off of doctors and nurses so he was no doubt built more powerful than the younger man. Sasuke was attempting to throwing the brown haired man off of him but Genma slammed in against the wall again, pinning his arms behind his back. Then the brown haired man held his senbon needle close to Sasuke's neck, nearly pressing it into his skin. "Don't move, asshole, or I'll be sticking this needle deep into your damn neck!"

Sasuke decided to listen.

Glaring at the back of his head and keeping a firm grip on him, Genma turned his head and looked down at Sakura, who was propping herself up with her elbow, but wincing as she did so. "Dr. Haruno! You okay?!" He asked through gritted teeth. Sakura felt a sharp sob rising from her chest but she nodded as she reached up and wiped blood from her nose. She felt embarrassed that this happened but she was also in a lot of pain. She couldn't believe Sasuke would do this here and now. Couldn't he have waited till she got home before beating the shit out of here?

"Shit!" She swore loudly when she saw a furious Tsunade enter the hall with three other security guards.


	2. Chapter 2

Title: The Devil's Whisper

Short Summary:  
Sakura is a Psychiatrist for a mental hospital for the Konoha Hospital who then gets moved to her dream job in the Suna Hospital for the Criminally Insane to take care of a very dangerous patient named Gaara. WARNING! Sasuke bashing!!

Pairings:  
Sakura/Sasuke (Minor), Sakura/Gaara

Warning: Story contains implied and/ or scenes of: major language, torture, rape, angst, adult scenes, violence and probably more…

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of its characters. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

Chapter II

Sakura sat near the window, holding a tissue against her decreasing bloody nose while watching as the ANBU escorted Sasuke out to the black and white car sitting outside the hospital. She could feel her boss' burning eyes glaring into her back while her assistant, Shizune was handing her a cup of coffee. Genma was informing Tsunade and the ANBU commander what happened and what he had found when he returned from finding out that one of the medical shelves had broken. Sakura was semi-listening but she was more worried about what might happen after this day. She knew that Sasuke was going to get out of jail. He had the right money to bail himself out. She had already saw him look her way, giving her a look as if to say, "You are so going to pay for this." It just made her shiver at the thought of what might happen. She knew when he got out of jail, she was doomed.

"So, Sakura. Are you all right now?" Tsunade asked as soon as Genma got down reporting to her and then he escorted the ANBU commander out.

Sakura turned and looked at her boss, looking somewhat surprised that she hadn't started yelling at her yet. She knew for a fact that Tsunade was angry. After the incident in the D-Section, Tsunade had been so furious. She even punched Sasuke hard across the face and told him that he was never to set foot on the hospital grounds unless it was a real emergency.

"Ah….yes. I think I'll be fine." Sakura said quietly as she tossed the bloodied tissue into a trash bin then grabbed another one.

"Are you sure? You don't feel any nausea or dizziness or anything?" Tsunade asked then nodded as Sakura shook her head. "Oh, good. Then I won't feel so horrible after I get done yelling at you!!" Her voice raised before she stood up and slammed her hands onto the desk in front of her. She ignored the fact that Sakura now looked wide eyed at her with shock. "God damn it, Sakura!! Why didn't you listen to me in the beginning when I first told you to dump that bastard?! This wouldn't have happened if you would have just listened to me!!" She yelled at the top of her lungs.

Sakura winced as she lowered her head and leaned against the wall behind her. She felt so embarrassed that Shizune and Genma was actually here listening to this. She wasn't mad at Tsunade though for yelling at her. She couldn't blame her actually. She knew that the blonde woman was actually just concerned about her. "I'm sorry, Tsunade. But it's just….Sasuke told me that if I ever….."

"Sakura! I don't care if he's rich or not, or how powerful he really is! Once you would have dumped him, you didn't have to worry about him anymore!" The blonde woman said angrily. "He can't do shit to you once you've separated from him! And if he tried, he would only dig his own grave!"

Sakura sighed as she lowered her head. She knew that Tsunade was right, as always. But it didn't help her nerves very well. She knew that she would live in fear once she dumped Sasuke. She would have to watch her back all the time waiting for him to just pop up out of nowhere and beat the living hell out of her. He was the sort to do it. "Tsunade, the problem is, no matter what happens, I will always be afraid of Sasuke. Yeah, I can handle dangerous mental patients who have murdered, raped, tortured and even beaten other people until they were dead, but Sasuke is not a mental patient. He's not in a hospital. He can wander this city as he pleases. No matter what, I'll have to keep looking over my shoulder, wondering if he's going to be there. As long as I'm in Konoha, he will be. If I stay with him, there's a chance that he might change. He can take Anger Management classes, or something." She told Tsunade.

Even Genma made a face at that remark. Tilting his head to the side, he took his senbon out of his mouth and gave Sakura a very stern look. "Sugar, that motha' effer ain't going to change. Once you let 'em go violent, you shouldn't stay silent. You should have done something about this a long time ago, girl." He shrugged. "Like it or not, you stay with that Uchiha shithead, he's going to keep beating you until you end up dead." He said, putting his senbon back into his mouth.

"He's right, Sakura. And we just don't want to see you get hurt anymore." Shizune perked up.

Sakura sighed as she lowered her head. She knew they were right. But it just didn't help that she was so afraid of Sasuke. "I know. But it's just…..I'm too afraid of him to let him go." She told them.

"Well, then," Tsunade began dryly. "Looks like I'm going to have to take matters into my own hands then. I'm going to make sure that bastard never lays a hand on you again, Sakura. And to make sure you don't have to be afraid every time you leave your house, I guess I'm just going to have to relocate you to another hospital."

Sakura's head snapped up and she looked at her with wide eyes. She was stunned that Tsunade was suggesting this. "No, Tsunade! Please don't do that! I like working here! Please…..!" She begged.

Tsunade just shook her head as she sank back down into her chair and folded her hands together. "Knock it off, Sakura. Let me finish." She paused for Sakura to shut up and when the pink haired girl did, forlornly, she smirked rather evilly before fingering a file right in front of her. "Do you know what this is?"

Sakura frowned but looked at the file. She saw her name on it and instantly knew that it was her personal file. "It's my file, ma-am." She said quietly.

"In deed it is." The blonde woman then flipped the file over and looked over Sakura's information before tapping something on the paper. "It says here you want to work as a Psychiatrist in the Suna City Asylum for the Criminally Insane. It was something you always wanted to do. So therefore, I'm sending you to Suna City." She said, a wicked smile on her face.

Sakura's heart nearly stopped beating and she stared wide eyed at her boss. She couldn't believe that Tsunade actually just said that. "What?!" She gasped.

Tsunade just smirked as she looked over Sakura's papers before lifting her cool blue eyes and staring the pink haired woman right in the green. "The Suna City Asylum is in need of a new Psychiatrist seeing that their latest one…..well, he's not really doing a good job, end of story. I don't know the details and if you want to know, you better just ask their warden yourself. Anyway, they need someone to work with their patients and help them. It's a dangerous job, but a good one. They pay real good money there." She shook her head. "The patients there, however, are very dangerous. Some of them are the most unstable criminals. But either way, they need your help. You are the best medic and Psychiatrist I know, Sakura. I know you can do this job. And I know that you don't like decisions being made for you but….." She was saying.

"Are you kidding?!" Sakura demanded, yet sounded very excited. "Are you seriously kidding me?! You want ME to go to Suna City and work at the Suna City Asylum for the Criminally Insane?! And you think I'd back down from the one job I've always wanted?! Hell frickin no! I have always wanted to go to Suna City! It was always a dream of mine to work at the Suna City Asylum since I even started studying Psychiatry and Criminal Justice! This job will seriously challenge my abilities to being a Psychiatrist! I'll get to work with people who really need my help!" She said brightly. "Of course I'll do it, Tsunade!"

This reaction only brought a smile on all three of the other occupants' faces. They had never seen Sakura so excited before. It was a pleasant sight to see a **_real_** smile on Sakura's face.

"So you will be dumping Mr. High and Mighty asshole, right?" Tsunade asked, looking lazily at Sakura.

The real smile was gone.

Sakura stared at her boss with a surprised frown before looking away, with a sad thoughtful look. It was true that she should leave Sasuke. It was for her own good. And she knew for a fact that if, actually when, he found out that she was relocating to Suna City, he would not be happy at all. If there was one place that he told her that she was never allowed to go to, it was Suna City. She had asked him why only to get slapped later. But he would not tell her why he didn't want her to go there. He just said that if she ever went, he would beat her so bad that she wouldn't be able to get up for a week.

"Sakura," Tsunade said warningly. "Don't tell me you're still going to date him."

Blinking out of her thoughts, Sakura looked at her boss, thoughtfully. She paused for a moment to think about it longer. She knew for a fact that this was her chance to get rid of Sasuke. There was no way he would go to Suna City if she did. He hated that place too much. It was full of sand and it was hot, something that he didn't like at all. He even told her that he would never go to Suna for anything. So she decided that she would go to Suna City. But not before doing what she should have done a long time ago.

"Tsunade, may I take leave for the rest of the day to start my packing? I'm going to Suna City to take this job." Sakura said, now all business like.

Tsunade slowly dipped her head into a nod before folding her hands together in front of her. "Yes, Sakura. You may leave. But before you do, what about Sasuke Uchiha? Are you going to do something about him?" She asked, seriously.

"Yes, Tsunade." Sakura said just as seriously. " I will be doing something about him. From this day on, you can count me as a single woman. And it'll probably stay that way for a while."

Tsunade just nodded as she lift her head higher. "All right then. I will make the arrangements for your relocation. Until then, you're free to go. In about a week, you'll be employeed at the Suna City Asylum." She told her. Sakura only nodded before she turned and left the room. Anyone she walked past would stop and look at her as she went by them. For they had never seen such a wider grin on her face as she went by them. There was no doubt that she was happy about something.

* * *

The Suna City Asylum for the Criminally Insane was at least a mile in a half away from the city limits and was more like a prison than a hospital. It was surrounded by almost twenty acres of land and with barbed wire fences to add on that. The ground was mostly of sand and rocks but they did have some vegetation growing under everyone's feet. The grass wasn't really green to be told the truth. It was more yellow green than any other. There were a few desert trees growing on the yard where the patients were able to get fresh air. Though there were several yards, which were meant to separate some of the patients.

It wasn't a bad compound really. It was actually very nice, nicer than most of the Asylums. If only the patients would agree.

The compound was near the rocky mountains, where there was a station set up on the high cliffs, looking down at the Hospital. There were guards stationed there, watching for any escapees, but luckily, none of them ever tried to leave. There had been a few attempts before, but it didn't turn out too good. But there had never been a successful escape. It was all thanks to the guards working in the asylum. They were some of the best.

Even though the Suna Asylum was one of the best mental hospitals, it did have its problems. There had been many times when someone got hurt, either it be a patient or an employee. Most of the patients were violent, so the guards sometimes got violent. There had been many injuries, some very serious and some minor that it was also a highly dangerous environment. Most of the patients practically lived in isolation.

Lately, however, there had been some deaths happening. Some of the patients just got too violent or they were so depressed that they gave up hope and committed suicide, or they did what they were in there for. They murdered each other or a few of the employees. Several doctors were injured terribly too when they got too out of control.

And that was what happened to the last Psychiatrist.

The pair were making their way into the warden's office, for they had been called into the Suna Asylum for two reasons. One, they were helping investing the hospital, for they came from a wealthy family. So when something happened, they were immediately alerted. And two, a certain patient had been involved.

The pair were siblings, brother and sister. Though the sister was the oldest by two years. She was a very gorgeous woman with golden blonde hair and cool blue eyes. She also had a body to die for and it did tend to make other women jealous but she didn't seem to care at all. It did catch a lot of unwanted attention but the men working in the asylum knew her too well. They all knew that if she caught them looking at her, she would cut something off. It didn't always help when she wore some of the most form fitting outfits though. Today, she was wearing a tight black dress with a red tank top underneath.

The younger brother was taller than her though by a few inches. He was rather handsome with wild brick red hair, which was usually hidden under a black bandana, and his eyes were a deep brown. He had somewhat a gawky build but everyone knew that he worked out. He just hid his well built form under baggy clothes. He was always seen wearing dark clothes though. Today, he was wearing all black with two black wristlets and there was a black tattoo snaking its way down his left arm to his palm.

The brother and sister was known as Kankuro and Temari Sabaku. And neither one of them looked hideous.

Temari and Kankuro quickly pushed their way into the Warden's office where there was a few people standing or sitting around. The warden was an elderly woman, at least 80 years old. It was only a miracle that she wasn't dead yet. Beside her stood a tall man wearing an all black outfit while his spiky black hair pointed in all different directions. His dark, almost black, eyes were on the doctor sitting before the desk with his sleeve shoved up to the bicep where another doctor with fiery reddish-orange hair was wrapping bandages around it. Apparently, something had slashed his arm pretty good.

However, as soon as the siblings entered the room, all eyes turned onto the pair. The injured doctor didn't look very excited to see them actually. He glowered at their very presense, which Kankuro returned. The old woman just sighed before nodding for them come closer. "So, I see you received my message then." She croaked.

Temari just moved forward while placing her hand onto her curvy waist and meeting the old woman's eyes. "What happened now?" she asked, eyeing the injured doctor.

"What happened?! What happened?!" The injured doctor asked angrily. "I'll tell you what happened?! HE happened to me! That delusional brother of yours nearly clawed the skin off my arm! He's completely out of control! All I did was ask him to talk about the voices inside his head…….."

Kankuro scoffed before folding his strong arms across his chest. He didn't look happy about that at all. In fact, he looked highly agitated. "Dr. Wie, you've been warned ten times not to talk about the voices! You know how he gets when you do! The whole voice thing is a lost cause!" He said angrily. Dr. Wie just glared at him with such hatred and annoyance. "You're brother is a lost cause! There is no helping him! He won't let anyone near him! For god's sake, he lives in the Isolation cells! He's too violent, he won't even try to make a change, and he's a complete monster! You're better off just putting him out of his misery!" He exclaimed only to yelp a second later when the red haired doctor squeezed his arm, probably to get him to stop yelling. "Ouch! Sasori! Watch what you're doing?!"

"That will be enough of that, Dr. Wie." The old woman said sternly as she glared at her employee.

Kankuro nodded as he started forward in a threatening manner. His eyes were extremely dark with rage. "Shut your fucking mouth! Gaara is not a monster, you piece of…." He was saying but shut up when his older sister shut him up with a icy look. So he stepped back, folding his arms and glowering at the doctor. Temari, however, looked right at the doctor with a stern look. "Dr. Wie, I'm sorry about what my little brother did to you….again. But that is no excuse to calling him a monster. What kind of doctor does that?"

"One that is now un-employed here at the Suna City Asylum." The old woman said, dryly, getting a very shocked look from the injured doctor. "Dr. Wie, no good doctor ever calls his patients a monster and then suggests that it's better off killing him. So therefore, you are being removed."

Dr. Wie, shoved Sasori's hands away from him, getting a very dirty look from the red head but he was ignored. He just stood up and gawked at the old woman with wide eyes. "Ms. Chiyo! You can't fire me! I've been working her for nearly ten years!" He exclaimed with rage. Ms. Chiyo just stared dryly at him with her ancient hands folded together. "Well, I just did fire you, Dr. Wie. It's about time you retire anyway. Lately, you haven't been performing to your greatest. None of the patients trust you anymore. You've been just as violent as they have been. So therefore, you will be removed from employement here at the Suna City Asylum. Please clear out your office and be out of here by the end of the day." She told him.

Dr. Wie gave her a very nasty look before he turned and stormed out of the room, shouldering Kankuro in the process. Kankuro would have turned around and punched the guy but chose not to. Instead he looked at Temari who looked rather tired. The blonde woman moved closer, shaking her head. "Ms. Chiyo, looks like we're going to need to find a new Psychiatrist Can you please locate one that will be able to help our brother?" She asked, wearily.

"Don't worry, m' dear." Chiyo said smiling a nearly toothless smile. "I've already done that." She received very startled looks from the remaining occupants. "I had a feeling that this might happen so I contacted all of the mental hospitals, asking if any one of them could spare a new Psychiatrist. There was only one hospital that responded. That would be the Konoha General Hospital. The warden there, Lady Tsunade, who is a specialist in all of the healing art, informed me that she has an apprentice nurse that she thinks that would do a good job. We've been talking about this particular nurse for nearly a month now. She has kept me updated on how well this girl is. To be honest, I'm impressed with her history. She seems to be a very skilled Psychiatrist and medic." She shook her head. "Only recently did Tsunade tell me that she NEEDS to come Suna City. She informed me of why, but I'm afraid that's just between me, Tsunade and the young nurse. It's personal information that I can not share with you." She told them.

"Hmm. A female Psychiatrist then?" The black haired man in the black suit spoke up. He sounded rather cheerful though. "We've never tried a female Psychiatrist before. She might just be what we need to help our patients."

Temari slowly nodded as she looked back at Chiyo. "All right then. Have Tsunade send her here then." She paused as she turned away. "In the mean time, I want to talk to Gaara before I leave." She told the old woman before leaving the room with Kankuro right behind her.

The two siblings were lead down a long corridor where they were keeping the Isolation Cells. There was a long hallway of them, actually an entire block full of them. Most of them were full, with exception of one or two, maybe even five cells being full but still, there was a lot of patients screaming or yelling as a guard lead Temari and Kankuro down the hallway. The siblings weren't interested in any of the noisy cells though. No, their attention was on the quiet one at the end of the corridor.

The guard approached the door and knocked on it a few times to let the patient inside know that he was about to enter. Then he unlocked the door with his keycard, pulling the door open once the lock beeped his clearance.

The room was extremely dark, with exception of a dim blue light on the ceiling. But for some reason, it wasn't on. And the broken glass on the floor explained why. It had been shattered out. There was a small cot on the left side of the room while on the right there was a toilette and a sink. The patient was seated in the corner at the end of the bed, sitting in a fetal position with his arms covering his head so that Temari couldn't see him. He appeared to be sleeping but she couldn't see if his eyes were open or closed. His head was resting between his knees, and she could hear the gentle sound of his breathing. Whisps of red hair was peering through his arms though. Still, she couldn't see his face.

"Gaara?" Temari spoke softly as she stood in the middle of the room and looked down at her youngest brother. She glanced over her shoulder at Kankuro and the guard, who stood in the doorway, watching carefully. "Gaara, are you awake?"

There was no answer but she saw him shift his head, as if nodding.

"Gaara, what happened today? Was it because Dr. Wie wanted to talk about…talk about him?" Temari asked carefully. She stepped back when her brother went a little rigid and there was a feeling of warning in the air. She knew she was trudging dangerous waters by mentioning HIM. "You won't have to see Dr. Wie anymore. He's been….well, he's not your doctor anymore." She paused. "You're getting a new one."

Still no answer.

With a sigh, Temari took a careful step forward and bent down in front of Gaara, watching him softly. "Gaara, you have got to start being nice to people. They are only trying to help you. With you acting like that, it's not helping you at all. If you don't start being nice and stop stabbing people whenever they try to talk to you, they are going to keep you in here for good. Don't you want to come out? Don't you want some help?" She asked gently.

After a long silence, Gaara finally lift his head, peering at his older sister from over his arm. His eyes were surrounded by dark circles, as if he didn't do very much sleeping but his eyes were almost a glowing teal color. He did not look very thrilled that she was even talking to him. "Does it look like I want help?" He asked very coldly, his voice extremely deep and sounded as if it was full of every negative feeling there was.

Wincing, Temari drew back a little. She knew when he started to speak like that, it was better not to push him anymore. He got pretty touchy when people pushed him. "Gaara," She sighed softly. "Please don't be like that." She said just as softly before she stood up and walked right out of the cell with Kankuro and the guard. Both she and Kankuro looked over their shoulders to see Gaara bury his head under his arms again and turn his back onto them. "Guard, just get someone to clean up the class so that Gaara doesn't hurt himself." The blonde woman said before she walked down the hall with her brother.

"It's going to be okay, Temari." Kankuro said trying to be comforting. "Gaara's gonna be okay." And together they left the Isolation block.

Inside the darkened room, Gaara lift his head again and looked at the closed door frowning darkly. "No one can help me. And I don't want their help." He growled into his arms. He just glared at it for a moment before burying his head back into his arms, while listening to the voices of his memories. It was something he always heard when he was alone.


	3. Chapter 3

Title: The Devil's Whisper

Short Summary:  
Sakura is a Psychiatrist for a mental hospital for the Konoha Hospital who then gets moved to her dream job in the Suna Hospital for the Criminally Insane to take care of a very dangerous patient named Gaara. WARNING! Sasuke bashing!!

Pairings:  
Sakura/Sasuke, Sakura/Gaara

Warning: Story contains implied and/ or scenes of: major language, torture, rape, angst, adult scenes, violence and probably more…

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of its characters. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

Chapter III

For the past three days, Sakura had been moving her things from Sasuke's house over to Tsunade's, where she was staying for the remainder of her days. She was packing everything that belonged to her, along with help from her three best friends. Her best friend from childhood, Ino Yamanaka had been so furious when she found out that Sasuke Uchiha had actually been beating Sakura. She swore she was going to kill the rich boy for even laying a hand on her in a wrong way. Her cousin, Naruto Uzumaki, had a worst reaction. He almost stormed to the ANBU station to kill him and would have if Sakura didn't hold him back. She told him that she would deal with it in her own way. As for her last friend, Hinata Hyuga, she was dating Naruto, so it was easy to calm him down with her help.

Together, Sakura and her friends went over to the house while Sasuke was still in jail, probably talking to his supervisors for his behavior at a hospital. Ino, Naruto and Hinata helped her move her things out

However, on the last day of the move, Sasuke came home.

Sakura was carrying a box down the hall while laughing at one of Naruto's weird, pervy jokes. Usually she hated his perverted jokes but right now, she felt like she needed to laugh. So she did. She was just heading straight to the door while looking over her shoulder when she realized someone was blocking her way. When she looked forward, her body went rigid and she immediately stepped back. "Sasuke!" She gasped.

Sasuke eyed her suspiciously before looking at the box in her arms. With a deep frown, his dark eyes looked back into Sakura's before he tilted his head to the side. "What the hell is going on here, Sakura?" He demanded, taking a step forward. She only stepped back. Sakura slowly shook her head as she nearly backed into one of the walls, while looking at him in fear. She couldn't believe he was here right now. She had wanted to get her things and be out of there before he got home. Then again, she knew that he couldn't touch her. Not with Naruto, Ino and Hinata there with her. Finding her courage, her eyes hardened and she gave Sasuke a very stern look. "I'm leaving, Sasuke. I'm moving out of here. I have gotten a new job and will be relocating elsewhere." She told him.

"What?!" Sasuke immediately demanded coldly. His temper had broken already. "No! You are not going anywhere, Sakura!" He yelled at her.

Sakura flinched a little, her eyes glancing over her shoulder because she knew that her friends had heard that. She knew they were probably on their way to the foyer right this minute. So with another stern look aimed at Sasuke, she nodded. "Oh yes I am, Sasuke! It's over between us! This relationship hasn't gotten hurt but pain and us anywhere! You really need some help, Sasuke. Talk to an Anger Management councilor or something." She shook her head at him. "I'm going to Suna City, so once you've fixed your problem, you can contact me." Then she moved to walk around him.

Only Sasuke wasn't going to let her go too far. Instead, his face-hardened before he whirled around and roughly grabbed her shoulder, nearly digging his fingers into her skin. He grinned when she yelped in pain and dropped her box of clothes as he yanked her backwards and slammed her into the wall. "You are not going anywhere, Sakura! Especially to Suna City!" He said savagely. "I already told you that you're not allowed to go to that place! And since you want to talk to me like that," He stopped talking as he began to raise a fist as if to hit her.

"HEY!" Ino snapped as she entered the room with Naruto and Hinata. "Touch her and I'll be ripping that hand off at the wrist, got it?!"

Somewhat startled, Sasuke held his fist and spun around to look at the three, who were either glaring at him or shaking like a leaf in the wind. He wasn't even aware that Sakura hadn't been alone, in HIS house. He frowned before looking a terrified Sakura. He just shook his head as he lowered his fist and glared at her. "Sakura, you brought a bunch of strangers into our house?!" He demanded.

Sakura shook her head before she straightened and glared at him. "They are helping me get out of here, Sasuke. Don't worry. I haven't touched any of your stuff and I just got the last bit of mine. So we're not coming back for anything else." She said sternly before she went over and picked up her box.

"You are making the biggest mistake of your life, Sakura!" Sasuke hissed through gritted teeth. "You really think that leaving me is going to make things better for you?! Wrong! I love you! And no one will ever love you like I do!"

Naruto nodded as he clenched his fists and glared at the raven-haired man. "Yeah! You're right! Someone will love her a whole lot more than you do!" he got a few surprised looks from the others. "Sakura's gonna find someone who won't hurt her every time she does something they don't like!" He snapped. Ino nodded while Hinata trembled violently. Sasuke shot them both a dark look but then looked sharply at Sakura, who turned back to her. His eyes were extremely dark with fury as they glared into hers. "Sakura! You are not leaving me! If you walk out that door, I'll……!"

"You'll what, Sasuke?!" Sakura asked coldly as she shifted the box onto her waist and glared right back at him. She shook her head as she tilted her head to the side. "Beat me until there's no tomorrow? Believe me, Sasuke. You will never touch me again. Not until you get some help. Just try and stop me from leaving. I dare you. If you touch me ever again, I will seriously press charges against you. I don't care on how rich you are. I never cared about the money. I had only wanted you and that was it. But after all of the pain you've put me through, I don't want you anymore. I am tired of you treating me like shit, Sasuke!" She now shouted at him. "I gave you my all! I let you sleep with me! I let you hit me the first several times! But it stops here!" She then turned away waving to her friends to the door. She paused to look back once at the angry man glaring at her. "Goodbye, Sasuke." She said softly before she turned and left the house.

"Oh. My. Gawd!" Ino squealed once they were in Naruto's large orange and black trunk and driving away. Both Sakura and Ino were in the back of the four seated while Naruto was driving and Hinata sat next to him. She was still shaking though after that confrontation with Sasuke. "I am so proud of you, Sakura! You really showed him!" Ino said bouncing in her seat.

Smiling, Sakura touched her chest where she could feel her heart still racing. She had never been so scared in her life then came out of it unscathed. She couldn't believe that she hadn't gotten hit. "Shit. My heart is still pounding. I was so terrified!" She said a little brightly. Ino snorted as she looked at her before nodding over to Hinata in the front seat. "You were terrified? Look at Hinata! She's still shaking! She looks like she's about to faint!" She said laughing a little.

It was true. Hinata was still very pale and she looked like she was about drop.

Smiling, Sakura reached up and grabbed Hinata's arm, who flinched. "Easy, Hinata. It's okay. We're not around Sasuke anymore. You can relax now." The pink haired woman said softly. Hinata nodded but didn't relax until Naruto reached over and took her hand, holding into his own. "S-sorry. I did-didn't mean t-to get so sca-scared." She muttered, stammering over her words a little.

"It's okay, Hina. We don't blame you for getting scared." Naruto told her before looking forward, driving with one hand. "That bastard, Sasuke, is kind of creepy when he loses his temper like that. He's like I didn't crack his jaw right there for what he's done to Sakura." He growled. Sakura just smiled as she leaned back into her chair with a gentle sigh. She was just so happy that her friends were there with her. She didn't know what she would have done if they weren't. It was more than likely if she had been alone, Sasuke would have beaten her badly and then tied her up, locking her up in the basement where no one would find her ever again while he did whatever he pleased to her.

The next few days, Sakura spent her remaining life in Konoha City at Tsunade's, packing all of her things into bags and boxes. She gave away only a few things. She also learned that Tsunade had already set her up with an apartment with the help of the Suna City warden, Ms. Chiyo. She had seen pictures of it and found it perfect.

According to the pictures, it was a one bedroom apartment with a decent sized bathroom and a small kitchen built right in the living room. It was small but perfect for a bachelorette like Sakura. The walls were painted a golden brown, almost like sand and the carpet was made of precious koawood. It was already furnished so she didn't have to go buy any furniture. Sakura cooed over the pictures, so excited about moving already. She really couldn't wait.

However, Sakura also found out that she wasn't going to Suna City alone. Apparently there was a security guard also relocating to the Asylum. And it was someone that Sakura knew from High School, or at least a little bit. She remembered how lazy he was yet he always got very good grades. She always figured that he was always cheating in his work.

His name was Shikamaru Nara.

Truth be told, Shikamaru was a very handsome young man with long black hair which he kept pulled back into a tight ponytail and his eyes were very dark brown, which always had a lazy or bored look in them. He didn't smile to often, more like smirked now and then. But still, he was pretty cute. Now if only he didn't annoy Sakura so much with the way he talked to her or other people. He always acted if there was a huge burden on his shoulders and it seriously killed him to do anything.

But when the day to going to Suna City together, he found out that he was hitching a ride with Sakura Haruno and all he did was just sighed and said it was such a drag. But he shut up rather quickly when Sakura gave him a very dark look as if she was about to murder him.

"Take care, Sakura! We are so going to miss you!" Ino said hugging her best friend. Sakura just smiled as she hugged her back and then hugged the others. She ignored as Shikamaru leaned against her hot red camero, looking extremely bored while waiting for her to get done saying her goodbyes to them. "I'll miss you guys too. I'll call every week and let you know how I'm doing. I promise." She told them.

Shikamaru groaned as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Come on, already. If we don't leave today, its' going to be another day to getting there." He grumbled.

Sakura whirled around and glared at him while shaking a fist at him. "Shut up, Shikamaru!" She snapped before turning to Tsunade, who was smirking and shaking her head as if she found that highly amusing. "Tsunade, thank you for all that you've done for me. I owe you so much. I wish there was some way I can pay you back for all the trouble."

Tsunade just folded her arms over her curvy chest while tilting her head to the side and shrugging. "You can pay me back by doing a good job over there, Sakura. And not getting into any trouble like you did with Sasuke Uchiha." She remarked.

That caught Shikamaru's attention. He rose an eyebrow at Sakura, smirking. "Oh man. Don't tell me you were dating that asshole." He remarked. Sakura turned and gave him a very dry look, her hand onto her waist. "And so what if I was? What's it to you?" She asked, dryly. Shikamaru chuckled dryly before shaking his head. "Oh man. What a drag. Don't tell me you didn't know?" He then shrugged as he walked forward, while digging into his pockets. He pulled out a cell phone then pushed several buttons as he went straight over to Sakura. Then he held it out to her. "Check out this picture. See if you can catch my drift."

Sakura frowned but then took the cell phone looking at it. She saw that it was a picture of the security guard, Choji Akimichi and a man she knew as Shino Aburame. They seemed to be at the local bar, both talking to one another. At first she wasn't even sure where Shikamaru was going with this.

Until she saw Sasuke in the background, at a booth. And there was no doubt that he was making out with a pretty red haired girl with glasses. His hand was shoved up the front of her shirt, grasping one of her breasts while she was straddling him and kissing his neck.

"Oh my……GOD! That bastard!!" Sakura immediately exclaimed when she realized it really was Sasuke. She had no idea who the woman was. But there was a lot of lust going on between those two. "Who the hell is that?!" The pink haired woman demanded. Shikamaru winced at her high pitched voice but shook his head as he took his phone back. "That is Karin. She's a waitress at the bar and a stripper at the night club. She's been…..'entertaining' Sasuke Uchiha lately though. If you know what I mean." He said raising an eyebrow at her then he rolled his eyes. "It's such a drag when they start making out at the bar. They practically have sex right there in front of everyone there."

However, Sakura was no longer listening. Instead, her face went completely red with rage and her fists clenched tightly as she thought about going back to Sasuke's house and murdering him. How long had Sasuke been going to see this girl?! It must have been when he went to the bar and came home very late in the evening. Either way, it was none of her business anymore. She had dumped Sasuke and she didn't have to deal with him anymore.

So she just pointed at Shikamaru, looking very cool. "Get in the car." She said dryly.

Shikamaru looked at her in surprise before stepping back. "Huh?" He asked, a little agitated that she was telling him what to do. But Sakura gave him a very dark look, as if daring him to ignore her. "Get. In. The. Fucking. Car. We are leaving now." She said dangerously. A little uneasy, Shikamaru quickly did what she said. Then Sakura turned to Tsunade, who seemed a little amused. "Tsunade, we're leaving now. I so want to get away from this place. And not because of you."

"I understand, Sakura." Tsunade said before she held out her files to the pink haired woman. "There's a copy of your personal files for you. It also has a map to Suna City and directions to your new apartment." She told her. "Now get out of here. Go do some good with a bunch of nutcases."

Sakura crinkled her nose before shaking her head with a smile. "Tsunade, they're not nutcases. They are only misunderstood individuals who were so confused that it caused them to do a few wrong deeds and they need my help to helping them find their sense of mind and getting helped back to their feet." She told her.

"Oh, wow." Ino said breathlessly, looking just as awed as Naruto and Hinata did. "That was so deep, Sakura."

Sakura just smiled before she spun around and raced to her car, jumping in the driver's seat. She waved at her friends before telling Shikamaru to get his seat belt on because he hadn't put it on yet. Grumpily, he did what he was told before they were speeding down the road away from Tsunade's.

According to Tsunade's map, Sakura and Shikamaru would arrive in Suna City in three days, that is if they didn't kill each other first. The first day on their way out, they really hadn't said a word to each other. They just sat in silence for the first two hours before Sakura got bored and decided to put in some music. Unfortunately, her type of music didn't sit too well with Shikamaru and he started complaining about how he didn't like pop/rock. His music was more the metal/rock and Alternative rock. They got into a huge argument about what music was better.

Then later, when they stopped at a gas station to fill up the gas tank, Sakura asked Shikamaru to go pay for the gas and get some snacks and he acted like it was the most biggest burden on the planet. She really felt like killing after that.

Late that night, while driving down the darkened highway, Sakura was so tired from driving anymore that she almost fell asleep at the wheel until Shikamaru had to grab the steering wheel to keep her from driving into the back of a truck. After that, he demanded that she let him drive. At first, Sakura refused and just kept on driving. But after Shikamaru decided to recite all of the elements on a element chart, then started singing oldies songs, she slammed on the brakes and missed a light pole by a few inches before she let him climb into the driver's seat. He wore a smug all night long while Sakura slept, dreaming of ways of killing him. The next two days passed slowly and they were even more aggravated with each other.

However, after a small incident that happened at a gas station, they were soon going to start getting along.

Sakura had gone inside to pay for the gas and use the bathroom while Shikamaru was filling up the tank again. When she came out again, she soon found herself surrounded by a bunch of bikers. She was trying to stay calm but it didn't help when they started touching her, grinning their perverted grins. "Hey there, pink lady. How about coming with us, Sug? We'll treat you really nice." One said.

Sakura tried to ignore them and head to the car that is until one wrapped his arms around her and pulled her onto his motorcycle, while feeling her up. She began cursing him out, trying to break free.

At that second, Shikamaru walked up, looking very bored indeed while eyeing Sakura as she struggled against the biker. "Man, what a drag. Can't you ever stay out of trouble?" He asked lazily.

"SHUT UP!!" Sakura yelled at him as she tried to push away from the biker. "Why are you just standing there?! Come help me!" She demanded before rolling her own eyes when Shikamaru rose an eyebrow at her. "Okay! Please, come help me!"

Shikamaru nodded as he moved closer with a bored sigh then looked at the bikers. "Hey. Mind letting her go? She ain't worth your time, nor getting your asses kicked." He warned them dully. Sakura glared at him while the bikers snorted with cruel laughter. "What did you say, lazy boy? You know, if you want us to kill you, you're going the right way of doing it." The leader, the one with Sakura stated. Shikamaru rolled his eyes before sighing. "As if I haven't heard that one before. Look, you're stupid enough for acting so stupid. Now let her go or I'm going to have to kick your ass." He warned them.

"Okay! That's it! Now you're dead!" the bikers yelled before charging at him.

With a sigh, Shikamaru looked away while rolling his eyes. "Man, what a drag." He grumbled. And before the bikers could start hitting him, he became a blur as he began dodging their fists or chains flying at him. All he did was dodge them or tripped them. A moment later, one biker swung and punched the leader across the fist while swinging at Shikamaru, knocking him and Sakura to the ground. Shikamaru just reached down and picked her up off the ground and steered her right over to the car while the bikers were now having a rumble with one another.

"What the hell was that?!" Sakura gasped as soon as they were driving away from the gas station where there were now ANBU forces now trying to pry the bikers away from one another and arrest them. "Where did you learn how to fight like that?!"

Shikamaru made a face as he folded his arms behind his head and closed his eyes, as if he was going to fall asleep. "That wasn't fighting. That was dodging. You haven't seen nothing yet." He told her. Sakura just smiled as she glanced over at him then looked back at the road. She had to admit it, but she was impressed. Here, most of her life, she had thought that Shikamaru Nara was a very lazy but after seeing him move like that, she knew she was wrong. "Whatever happened to that lazy kid who always cheated during High school? You've changed, Shikamaru." She stated.

The lazy man opened one eye and gave her a dry look for that remark. "Lazy cheat? I'm not lazy. I just get bored too easy. And I never cheated in anything at High School. It was just too easy for me. I've got an IQ of a 200, all right?" He asked, dryly. Sakura just looked at him with surprise before starting to come up with hard questions to ask Shikamaru. And he answered every single one, sounding very bored.

After that, Sakura tried to come up with challenges for Shikamaru just to entertain him and herself. She found it kind of amusing how could pass each one though. And in a way, he would challenge her right back, showing her exactly how smart he was. She was nearly stunned by the end of it. By the time they reached Suna City, Sakura and Shikamaru were fast friends.

It was well near dusk when they reached the city limits. Sakura took Shikamaru where he needed to go before she called the Suna City Asylum's warden, Ms. Chiyo to let her know that she had arrived. She also asked if she wanted her to stop by the Asylum to get started but the warden told her to show up in the morning instead. It was too late to make the drive out to the Asylum anyway.

So Sakura obeyed.

Sakura drove around the city, looking around for where her apartment might have been at. While doing so, she got a good look around. The city was amazing. Some of the buildings were highly decorated with lights and torches. There were a few casinos here and there, night clubs, there were several movie theatres here and there. There was even a Playhouse for putting on live shows. It was quite the place. Finally after a half an hour of searching, she found her apartments at Sultan's Square. When she drove through the gates of the property, she found herself entranced. The apartments were almost the same but each had different colors. It was like stepping through the gates of an Arabian palace. It was a nice little place. There was even an out door swimming pool and a Sports Center for the occupants. This was definitely a nice place to live.

Too tired to actually pay too much attention, Sakura found her new apartment before gathering up her things and going inside. She found that everything she had seen from the pictures sent to her and Tsunade was exactly what it was suppose to be like. She was very exhausted, however, to pay too much though. She just went into her new bedroom and crashed right on her soft bed that seemed to be made out of fluff. She was out like a light the very minute her head settled onto the goose feathered pillows.

In the morning, her cell phone's alarm clock was what woke her up as her wake up call. At first, Sakura didn't realize where she was. It took her a moment to remember that she was finally in Suna City. She got very jittery before bouncing on her bed a little with happiness. All of this, her new job, she was finally where she always wanted to be.

With a smile, Sakura took a shower and got ready for that day. She used her special strawberries and crème shampoo and conditioner as well as her body wash, scrubbing herself clean before she got out, drying her hair and pulled out her clothes to wear. She chose to wear a black skirt that fell just above her knees and a scarlet red short sleeve blouse with a matching headband to keep her hair out of her face. As soon as she was ready, she was off.

The drive to the Suna City Asylum took almost an hour, but when she finally got there, she was surprised to see that it looked more like a prison on the outside. She saw several high barbed wire fences all over the place and there were guards patrolling on high walls. She bit her lip as she pulled up to a roll away gate, still looking up at it before she heard tapping at her window.

Blinking out of her thoughts, she saw a guard standing there. So with a smile, she rolled down her window and waved at him. She saw him freeze when he got a good look at her but she didn't think of anything of it. "Hi! I'm Sakura Haruno! I have an appointment with Ms. Chiyo, the warden of the Suna City Asylum!" She paused for a moment to wait for the man to say something. All he did was stare at her, as if surprised about something. She frowned before tilting her head to the side. "Um…..I'm the new Psychiatrist." She offered.

The guard blinked before shaking his head as if he just woke up from a day dream and looked back into her eyes. "Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to stare. I've just never seen pink hair before." He told her. "Can you repeat that?"

Dryly, Sakura did.

The guard frowned as he took the information before looking over his clipboard for her name. He seemed to find it because he tapped it and then nodded over to his partner in the security booth, who pressed the button for the gate to roll away. Then the guard turned back to Sakura. "All right. You can go through. An escort is going to be waiting for you at the parking lot, where he'll take you right up to Ms. Chiyo's office." He then paused as if he thought of something. He made a face as he gave Sakura a skeptical look. "Honey, I do not know why in the world you would want to work in a place like this. If I were you, I'd want to back out before it was too late." He told her, before he walked back to his booth.

Sakura just frowned at his back before shaking her head and driving on. She wasn't sure what he meant by that but she didn't really care. Working at the Suna City Asylum had always been her dream since she was a student at the University. After reaching the parking lot, Sakura climbed out of her car and made her way over to the guard, who had his back to her, but she began to slow her pace when she saw him. Though he wasn't facing her, she knew who it was.

"Shikamaru?!" Sakura gasped in surprise.

Shikamaru turned around and looked right at her before snorting as he looked her over. "Ah, man. As if I haven't seen enough of you for the last few days." He said with dry amusement. Sakura smiled and shook her head as she approached him. "So you're working here too, huh?"

"Yeah. It's kind of a drag." Shikamaru said stuffing his hands into his pockets but then frowned as he glanced up at the building behind him. "Actually, it's not that bad. But I don't know why you would want to work here." He told her. Sakura frowned as she looked at him, tilting her head to the side. "Hm? What do you mean?" She asked with confusion. Shikamaru just shook his head as he looked seriously right back at her. He was quiet for a second before straightening and pulling his hands out of his pockets. "This place, Suna Asylum, it's not exactly the grandest place to be working at. They have some of the most craziest people I've ever seen here. I just came in this morning and I already nearly had my throat crushed by some wacko patient. It's pretty dangerous just by the first attempt." He told her.

Sakura just frowned with only a little concern before she shook her head. "Don't worry about it, Shikamaru. I've been working with patients like these for years. I think I can handle it." She said, smiling at him again. "Can you please take me to see Ms. Chiyo now?"

Shikamaru nodded before turning and leading her inside. "All right. But don't tell me I didn't tell you so." He told her before they went inside.

After passing through a security check or two, Shikamaru lead Sakura through the halls. It seemed that ten minutes passed before they finally got anywhere. There had been moans and groans within the halls and a few patients were wandering around with an escort. But as they began to hit the second and third floor, then came the screams of horror that just made the skin crawl on Sakura's arms. She jumped a few times when there came bangs within some of the rooms and she moved closer to Shikamaru when it creeped her out a little more. It was so heart wrenching to hear these patients like that.

After reaching the third floor, Shikamaru and Sakura finally reached a door where there was some shouting going on the other side. They both began to slow their pace and hesitate from even approaching the large wooden doors. Sakura really didn't like the sound of those angry shouts though. It sounded pretty bad. Shikamaru just frowned as eyed the door before sighing.

"Aw, man. Don't tell me he's still here. I thought he left earlier today."

Sakura blinked as she looked at her old high school classmate before looking back at the doors with confusion. She wasn't sure who was in that room, but the fight sounded like one she didn't want to interfer. "Who is it, Shikamaru?" She asked, concerned.

Shikamaru just shook his head as he glanced sideways at her. He then made a face as he turned back to the door. "Ah, some grumpy doctor. He used to be the old Psychiatrist, the one you're replacing. He's pissed off about getting fired and having some girl taking over." He made a face as he saw the dry look on Sakura's face. "He's kind of a sexist. Anyway, go ahead. Ms. Chiyo's in there. Just knock on the door. I'm taking off to do continue my rounds." He said before he walked off.

Sakura just frowned before she went straight to door and knocked on it. Behind the door, the shouting ceased before there came footsteps behind it. She just shifted her weight, playing with her file before she stepped back when the door opened, revealing a tall black haired man in a black suit. He took one look at her, looking almost as surprised as she did before smiling in interest as he looked her over. She felt herself blushing as his eyes wandered a little before looking back into her emerald-green eyes.

"Well, hello there. I don't think I know you." The man spoke with a rather friendly tone in his voice.

Sakura bobbed her head into a nod before she lift her head higher, trying to look professional. "Hello. I'm Sakura Haruno. I've come from Konoha General Hospital to serve as the new Psychiatrist for the Suna City Asylum." She told him. The man's eyes grew bright with interest before he smiled and stepped to the side, to let her in. "Well then, you must have come to see Madam Chiyo. Please, come in." He told her.

With a nod, Sakura did just that, looking around as she entered the rather large office. She found that they were not the only occupants in the room, of course. There was at least five more people there. A grumpy old man at least in his sixties was having a face off with a much younger man, who was not much older than Sakura was.

The young man must have only been a few years older than her and had the looks of a skater of some sort. He was wearing black baggy jeans with a black short sleeved shirt with the word, Sk8er on it. He had a black bandana tied around his head so she couldn't see the color of his hair clearly.

Beside him was a slightly shorter young woman, who was no doubt older than Sakura. She had golden blonde hair, which she had it pulled up into four unusual ways. She was a black suit while glaring at the old man facing off with the young man. Apparently he had said something that she, nor the other man, had liked. A guard stood beside the desk next to an ancient old woman who was clearly getting to old for this job.

But as soon as Sakura entered the room, all arguments stopped and all eyes turned onto her, which practically pinned her in her spot. They all looked surprised to see her, well, actually the old man looked angry.

"Don't tell me this is what you replaced me with?!" The old man exclaimed. "This….this…"

_'Oh, don't you dare.'_ Sakura thought, her eyes narrowing in warning.

"This….pink haired, big foreheaded female!" The doctor exclaimed.

**'Cha! Slug him! Slug him! Slug him!'** Inner Sakura roared.

Sakura just settled with looking extremely offended and balled up her fists tightly. She gave the man a look of outrage while she glared at him. "Excuse me?!" She demanded. She returned the dirty look that the man just shot her.

"That will be enough, Wie!" The old woman now shouted, glaring at the doctor. She wasn't the only one glaring at him. Almost all of the room's occupants were glaring at him. "I told you why I let you go! You need to retire! The patients don't trust you! You don't get along with more than half of them! For crying out loud, they've tried to kill you so many times as it is! It's not helping your health anyway! Besides, you have no right to judge the new doctor!"

The doctor scoffed as he threw a finger in Sakura's direction. "Do you really thing she'll be ready to work with the patients?! Look at her! She looks more like a model than a doctor! They will rip her to shreds before the day is out! HE will rip her to shreds if you put her in the same room as that blood thirsty lunatic of theirs!!" He shouted, now motioning to the blonde woman and the skater.

"Do not refer our brother as a……!!" The skater began shouting right back.

"My name is Sakura Haruno, doctor." Sakura suddenly said, sounding very calm. All eyes turned back onto her, surprised on how calm she was looking about the whole ordeal. A moment ago, she had been insulted by this strange doctor but she seemed to be taking it calmly. Her eyes were sternly trained on the raving doctor and him alone. "I have graduated from the Konoha University with my Master's degree in Medical and Psychiatry and I have learned from some of the finest Instructors in the world. I have dealt with nearly over fifty misunderstood patients who were so mentally unstable that it was almost impossible to talk to them. But I always found a way to get through to them." She shook her head as she folded her arms, looking very seriously at the former doctor. "I am not afraid of a highly dangerous patient. Some how, I will get through to them."

Interested, the skater tilted his head with a growing smile on his face. "Misunderstood patients? Don't you mean….." He was asking.

Sakura looked at him but shook her head. "I meant what I said. I never refer patients as crazy people or the mentally insane. It's rude. My patients are only misunderstood individuals who need my help. That's what I do. That is what a Psychiatrist is suppose to do. They HELP people, even if they are a little unstable." She said, seriously.

There was a very long silence full of surprise before slowly one by one, everyone but the old doctor smiled as if they were impressed with Sakura's bold words. The old man was just scowling at her. The blonde woman just lift her head higher and folded her arms over her curvy chest. "Chiyo, I think I really like this one. She's bold and daring. She's exactly what we need here at the Suna Asylum. Start her today, immediately." She told the old woman.

"Now see here! I have the right to contradict the skills of this girl! She cannot possibly think that……" The doctor was trying to start up another argument.

The blonde woman shot him a very nasty look before she threw a finger in his direction, almost as if it were a sword wanting to pierce his chest. "You don't have the right to say anything, Wie! You were fired days ago! We told you to clear out your office and be off the Asylum grounds a long time ago! And yet you came back in just to up my brother's sedatives, stating that you were worried that he wasn't getting enough! And what happened?! He defended himself by nearly choking the life out of you when you were not suppose to be in there in the first place! He knew you were not suppose to be in there! That's why he told you get the hell out of there before he did something drastic! Now get out of here before I call the ANBU and have you arrested for trespassing and attempting to foul play in a medical patient's medications!" She shouted angrily.

With a very angry look on his face, Dr. Wie stomped out of the room, cursing loudly as he went. The old woman, Chiyo looked over to the guard next to her desk before motioning him to go after the doctor. "Baki, make sure he actually leaves this time." She told him, sternly. The guard nodded and was out the door after the doctor.

There was a long silence in the room as everyone tried to cool their tempers before Chiyo sighed and looked at a scowling Sakura, who was still glaring at the door. "Please, Miss Haruno, excuse us for that disturbing scene. That was not how I wanted you to start your career here." She said with a sigh.

Sakura forced a smile but shook her head. "It's okay, Ma-am. I've seen worst." She told her honestly.

Chiyo then motioned for her to move closer which she did, but was not the only one. The blonde woman and the two men in the room joined her, sitting against the walls or just standing around. "Welcome to Suna City, my dear. I'm glad you made here. I hope there wasn't any problems on your way here." She said, motioning to a chair.

Sakura shook her head as she sat down on the chair, tucking her legs under the chair and folding her arms onto her lap and on her files. "Not really. There were some problems but I handled them all right. I actually came here with the new guard, Shikamaru Nara. Whatever problems we ran into, I made him deal with it." She said, offering a teasing smile.

The old woman just chuckled as she nodded. "So you're the slug girl's apprentice." She shook her head when Sakura tilted her head in confusion. "That's what I call Tsunade now and then. She informed me that you're one of her best, no, you are her best Psychiatrist she has. That's good because we need the best with our patients." She glanced side wards at all of the other occupants, then motioned to them. "I'm being rude. I should introduce you to some of the most important people you'll need to know about." She held out her hand to the man in a black suit first. "This is our Head of Medical Examiners, Madara Uchiha. He's in charge of examining the patients when they get seriously ill and we have no clue what's wrong with them."

Sakura's eyes widened at the man's surname and she looked at him with alarm. She couldn't help but feel like this man might have been related to her ex-boyfriend. In a way, he kind of did look like Sasuke. "Uchiha?" She then shook her head, looking interested. "Sir, are you by any chance related to a Sasuke Uchiha?"

Madara Uchiha blinked in his own surprise before his face softened and he nodded. "Yes. Actually I am. He's my nephew, living in Konoha. Apparently you know him. Though I wouldn't be surprised. Our family is rather popular there. I suppose you're a friend of his?" he asked.

Sakura made a face but shrugged. "Sort of. Um…right now, we're not really getting along. I don't really want to talk about it though. Sorry." She said, smiling when the man didn't press into it.

Chiyo just smiled and then motioned to the other two. "All right. Now that's done. These two are the Sabaku Siblings, Temari and Kankuro Sabaku. They are the sponsors of the Suna City Asylum. They pretty much pay all of the bills around here. As well as your pay checks. So whatever you do, don't get on their bad side." She joked. Sakura laughed softly into her hand.

"Heh, she's already on my good side, Chiyo." The blonde woman, Temari said, smirking over at Sakura.

Kankuro just smirked rather smugly as he looked Sakura over, as if undressing her with his eyes. It was a look that she was too used to, so she didn't complain too much as she gave him a dry look. "Oh, she's on my good side too. Especially on how hot she looks. It's not every day you see a hot doctor." He said before winking at her. "Hey, doc. Just to let you know, you can operate on me any time."

Sakura's smile was now completely gone and she glared at him.

"Kankuro! You perve!" Temari snapped, glaring at her brother, who just shrugged as if he didn't do anything wrong.

Sakura, however, seemed to think of a quick comeback. She smiled rather seductively at him, surprising him a little when she responded like that. He wasn't the only one who blinked in surprise. "Well, in that case, maybe I will operate on you." The pink haired woman said in a flirtatious way. She just smiled even more when Kankuro's surprised look was gone and he was grinning at her. "So which one is it that you want removed? Your eyes or your balls?" She asked, dangerously innocent.

Kankuro's smile was gone and his face went completely pale as he quickly rose his hands in surrender. He knew it had been too good to be true to have her so interested immediately. Temari, on the other hand, snorted with laughter, doubling over a little. Chiyo and Madara joined her with amusement. "Oh, yeah! I definitely like her! For that remark alone, she's getting a raise!" The blonde said, still laughing. She ignored the pout her brother shot at him.


	4. Chapter 4

Title: The Devil's Whisper

Short Summary:  
Sakura is a Psychiatrist for a mental hospital for the Konoha Hospital who then gets moved to her dream job in the Suna Hospital for the Criminally Insane to take care of a very dangerous patient named Gaara. WARNING! Sasuke bashing!!

Pairings:  
Sakura/Sasuke, Sakura/Gaara

Warning: Story contains implied and/ or scenes of: major language, torture, rape, angst, adult scenes, violence and probably more…

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of its characters. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

Author's Note: Just thought I'd inform you guys, you haven't seen the last of Sasuke Uchiha yet. He will be making an appearence a few times in the story. Anyway, with this chapter, you'll get to see Sakura in action with working with some of her patients. And in this chapter, you get to see an interaction between Sakura and Gaara. It's going to be interesting. So kick up your feet, read the chapter and enjoy. But don't forget to review too. I do so love your opinions.

Chapter IV

The tour around the Asylum wasn't too long. Sakura didn't get to go every where to see everything while listening to Chiyo and Temari explain a little about the hospital. They informed her that there were four stories of the Asylum. The first level was were the most mild leveled patients were living. These ones were the safer patients to work with. They weren't that dangerous and easy to work with. The middle floor was where the more unstable patients were kept. While all of the patients' rooms were always kept locked, these ones were under security locks. They were full of the more dangerous patients, yet they could be controlled at a certain level. The top floor was where the offices were kept. No patients were allowed up there and only limited visitors were also allowed in there. The cafeteria was also up there, and was used by staff and visitors only. The cooks did prepare the patients' meals there too but none of the patients really went there. Each floor also had an Infirmary, just in case there was an emergency as well as a security lounge where the guards took their breaks.

The very bottom floor, however, was the largest floor in the entire building, built somewhat underground. That was one place that Chiyo told Sakura she wouldn't be going until later that day. Not without a guard to escort them. From what the old woman said, that was where the Isolation cells were kept and the most dangerous patients were kept down there. There was also a morgue down there, for when a patient died. Just hearing that made Sakura a little creeped out but she didn't say anything.

Sakura, however, was led to the first floor entertainment room where the patients were allowed their breaks. Chiyo, Temari and Kankuro were walking with her, while Madara Uchiha found an excuse to go back to his work. Not that Sakura minded too much. As friendly as the man was, she couldn't help but think of Sasuke when he was around. He looked too much like her ex.

In the entertainment room, there were only a few patients there. Some were playing board games with another patient or with bored guards who didn't have much to do. Shikamaru was there, playing a patient a game of Go. By the looks of it, he was forcing himself to lose to keep the patient happy, when he wasn't at all. Sakura just giggled at the look on his face. Her eyes also settled onto an interesting blonde, whom she couldn't decide at first if it was a man or a woman, playing around with clay art. He, as Kankuro finally told her, was quite the artist though. He was making the most interesting birds out of the clay while giggling over his work before slamming a fist onto it, pretending that it had blown up instead.

Either way, Sakura found herself smiling as she looked around at all of the patients. She felt like she truly was at home while being around patients. These were her patients. They were her people to help.

"I see you're pleased." Chiyo said as soon as she noticed Sakura's smile. Sakura glanced at her before nodding as she looked around again. "Yes. I am. I'm right where I've always wanted to be. Helping those who truly need my help. I've always dreamed about working here at the Suna City Asylum. Now, I'm here." She told the old woman. Temari tilted her head towards her smiling. "You really are passionate about helping people, aren't you?" She asked. Sakura only nodded with a pleasant smile.

"TOBI! NO!" Someone barked.

All heads jerked around when they heard the shouting coming towards the room. It was at that very second did a man wearing a mask over his face come racing into the room, followed by a few patrons. The guards in the room immediately jumped up to help catch the patient before they all realized that there was a knife in his hand. As soon as they had him cornered, he began swinging the knife at them, trying to strike. The patrons and the guards had to jump back before trying to make a grab for him but had to move again when he almost slashed them.

The patient seemed to be older than Sakura, yet not by mentally. He had the body of a late thirty or early forty year old with black spiky hair sticking out from behind the mask and there was only one eye hole on the right side of his mask. He was wearing the dull gray medical uniform that the patients wore. He sounded like he was sobbing though.

"Tobi is bad! Tobi is not bad!" He yelled as if he was in pain. "Tobi not Obito! Tobi hate Obito!"

Chiyo sighed at the scene before them, shaking her head as she watched the incident. She didn't seem surprised that this particular patient was being like this at all. The other patients in the room were getting very excited as they watched the patrons and guards trying to get close to the one called Tobi before having to leap back again.

However, Sakura quickly moved forward, surprising Chiyo, Temari and Kankuro as she rushed towards the frantic patient and the annoyed patrons and guards. She ignored Temari when she shouted in protest after her and Kankuro made to follow her and stop her from going any closer but Chiyo grabbed both of them, shaking her head. "Let her go. I want to see how this is played out."

"But Chiyo! She could get hurt!" Kankuro protested.

The old woman just shook her head as she folded her hands together, watching as Sakura carefully approached the ground of guards and patrons. "No. I don't think she will. She's been trained to do things like this. Besides, I want to see exactly how good she is." She told the siblings.

Sakura reached out and touched Shikamaru's shoulder, making him jerk around but relax when he saw that it was only her. She just motioned for him to step back and he nodded as he did so. "Everyone, please move back and give him room." She said calmly.

The other patrons shot her a look as if she was crazy. And apparently they thought she was because one tried to grab her arm, only to get stopped by Shikamaru. "Lady! Are you nuts?! If you go up to him, he'll stab you! He's highly dangerous!" The patron snapped. Sakura just shot him a stern look of authority before shaking her head. "I said move back and give him room." She told him seriously.

"Just do what she says." Chiyo called over to them, making several turn their heads before they all sighed and did what they were ordered.

Sakura, however, turned to the sobbing, frantic patient who kept the knife aimed at her. She didn't panic at all, even with it aimed at her. She just tried to give him a sweet smile as she took a careful step forward then stood her ground, standing ten feet away from him. "Hey." She said soothingly, waving a careful hand. "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. What's your name?"

The sobbing patient violently shook his head as he kept the knife up, ready to swing if she moved too close. "……T-Tobi don't tell strangers Tobi's name! Tobi's mama to-told Tobi to never t-to talk to strangers!" He yelled at her.

Sakura just smiled sweetly at him as she bobbed her head into a nod and folded her hands together. "Your mama is right then. You should talk to strangers. You're a good boy to listen to your mama." She tilted her head to the side. "If I tell you my name, will you tell me yours?" She asked gently.

There was a long pause as the patient, Tobi, trembled as he backed up even more against the wall but his head bobbed up and down as if telling her yes.

"Okay then." Sakura said, before touching her chest with her hand. "Hello. My name is Sakura Haruno. You may call me Sakura." Then she motioned to him, quickly dropping her hand when he flinched away. "Easy. Now, what is your name?" She asked carefully, still smiling.

"……To-Tobi….." Tobi whimpered, still shaking violently.

Sakura just smiled innocently as she nodded to him. "Tobi. That's such a nice name, Tobi. Would you mind if I came a little closer to you?" She shook her head when he grew very tense. "Don't worry, Tobi. I won't touch you without your permission. I just would like to talk to you. Can I talk to you?" She asked, gently.

There was a pause before Tobi pressed himself completely against the wall, the knife still quavering in his hand but it had dropped a little. He nodded once. "O-okay." He murmured, terrified.

Sakura nodded as she slowly took a few steps forward before she bent down to her knees before him and then sat on her heels, motioning to the floor in front of her. "Tobi, will you please sit with me? That way I don't have to look up at you." She said softly. Tobi trembled again but slowly slid down the wall until he was sitting down, yet the knife was still up towards her. "Okay then. Tobi, what is your favorite color?"

That question took Tobi and every one else in the room by surprise. They hadn't been expecting her to just suddenly ask a raving patient his favorite color. But nonetheless, Tobi stopped shaking as he sat up straighter against the wall, still clutching the knife. He tilted his masked head to the side before resting his hand onto his knee. "Or-orange." He murmured.

"Orange. Like the fruit?" Sakura asked, brightly.

Now, Tobi seemed interested as he leaned forward a little, as if he was listening inventively. He nodded rather enthusiastically. "Yeah! Tobi loves oranges!" He said, his voice no longer wavering.

Smiling brightly, Sakura turned around on her behind and looked up at Shikamaru. "Can someone get me an orange?" She asked. Shikamaru tilted his head with a growing smile on his face before he turned around and rushed out of the room, while everyone was watching very carefully. There were a few awed looks on the patrons' faces. Behind them, Chiyo, Temari and Kankuro were watching just as carefully, yet they were very interested.

"Now, Tobi." Sakura said carefully as she turned back to the patient. "Would you like to share an orange with me?"

Tobi seemed to be getting a little excited when she mentioned an orange. He was now making a sound as if he was smiling under that mask and bouncing a little as if excited. "Yeah!" He said brightly.

Sakura just nodded before she went quiet for a moment, trying to let him calm down. But then she looked up when Shikamaru quickly returned with an orange. He carefully approached them, using very slow steps so not to startle Tobi before handing the orange to Sakura. She just gave him a thankful smile before she began peeling the orange, wordlessly. She glanced up a few times to see that Tobi was watching her carefully; or was watching the orange. She couldn't be too sure. But still, she kept on peeling it until it was free of its skin and then she cracked it into pieces. "Okay, Tobi. Here." She said, holding one slice out to him.

Hesitating, Tobi slowly reached out with his free hand and plucked the slice out of her hand, jerking it back once he had it. He seemed to be afraid that she might have tried to grab him if he did it too slow. But instead, she picked up a slice for herself and began to chew on it. Once he was sure it was safe, he pulled up his mask a little but not enough to reveal his entire face.

"Tobi," Sakura asked, now holding out a second slice to him, which he took again with a snatch but was a little more slower this time. "Can I ask you why you're so upset?"

There was a long pause as Tobi ate the orange slice before he reached out for a third, seeming more relaxed with her. Sakura just nodded as she gave him two more slices, which he took much slower and more relaxed. "….the nightmares came back and scared Tobi. They just keep coming and coming." He murmured before slurping down an orange slice. Then he jabbed a finger towards one of the patrons, who stepped back in alarm. "And that meanie called Tobi Obito again! Tobi don't like being called Obito!" He said in a very ornery tone.

Slowly Sakura nodded as she gave Tobi more slices, which he took carefully. It was calming him down more and more though. So her method was working. "It's okay, Tobi. No one will call you Obito anymore. I promise. If you don't like it, just tell them. If they don't listen, just tell me when you see me and I'll tell them off. Is that a deal?" She asked, now holding out her hand.

This made the guards and patrons very tense.

Tobi just stared at her hand for a minute before he slowly nodded and reached out towards Sakura's hand, taking it. He shivered a few times but slowly relaxed when she didn't make any move to harming him or anything. She just shook his hand before putting the rest of the orange into his hand.

"Can I have that knife now, Tobi? Knives are too dangerous to be handling. You can hurt yourself." Sakura said being very careful.

Tobi paused as he slowly pulled back his hand full of orange slices before he looked down at the knife in his other hand. He stared at it for a minute before he glanced to the orange slices in his other hand then back to it. After a minute, he slowly held out the knife to Sakura, blade first. It was Sakura's turn to pause before she nodded and carefully took the knife by the blade, waiting for him to let it go. When he did, she nodded and put it behind her so that Shikamaru could carefully bend down and pick it up, hiding it behind his back so that Tobi wouldn't see it anymore. However, Tobi was too enthralled into his orange so he didn't seem to care.

"Anyway, Tobi," Sakura continued, using her friendly tone. "Like I told you before, my name is Sakura. I'm going to be your new doctor. Will you like that?"

Tobi lift his head and looked at her through the one eyehole before he tilted his head to the side, looking almost innocent. "Will Sakura bring Tobi more oranges? Tobi loves oranges." He said, hopefully.

Smiling, Sakura nodded as she folded her hands in front of her. "Sure. Sakura will bring Tobi oranges every time she comes to see Tobi. I promise." She said crossing her heart with a finger. Then she held out a hand towards Tobi again.

Tobi finished the oranges before he reached out and took her hand with a slightly sticky and wet hand and together they stood up. "Will Sakura take Tobi to his room now?" He asked innocently.

"If you want me to." Sakura said sweetly before she started to lead him out of the room. She paused when he immediately clung to her side, wrapping a trembling arm around her as he looked around at the patrons nervously. "It's okay, Tobi. They won't hurt you. I won't let them." She told him softly. Then she lead him right out of the room, not caring if he was still clinging onto her. Chiyo, the siblings and Shikamaru followed her and Tobi, keeping a good distance behind them so not to startle the terrified patient.

As soon as they reached Tobi's room, Sakura had Tobi wash his hands, while washing her own then she had him lay down on his bed to take a nap for a while. As soon as he was relaxed on his bed, Sakura returned outside the room, closing the door behind her before smiling at the impressed others. Shikamaru was smirking as he shook his head at her. "Wow, Sakura. I heard you were good, but seriously. That was impressive." He stated.

"I'm very impressed." Temari said smiling at the pink haired woman. "I can't believe you actually got Obito to trust you."

Sakura frowned at her before shifting her gaze over to Chiyo. "Obito?" She asked, carefully.

Chiyo nodded as she folded her hands together in front of her. "It's Tobi's real name. Obito Uchiha, and yes. He's also related to Madara." She said quickly when Sakura looked surprised paused. "You see, years ago, Obito was in a terrible accident that caused him to be this way. He was in the Earth Country doing some sight seeing with some friends when it happened. He and some friends went onto some rather unstable cliffs where the ground started to shift under their feet, causing a landslide. He shoved both of his friends out of the danger before falling with the cliff side. He was injured pretty seriously." She nodded when Sakura gasped and covered her mouth. Even Shikamaru looked a little startled to hear this. "The injuries were severe to his head. He lost his memories and became rather mentally unstable." Chiyo said.

"What happened to his friends?" Sakura asked, with worry.

Chiyo just shook her head with a grave look. "Fortunately, they were not hurt like he was. A couple of broke bones, bumps and bruises. That was basically it. But they felt extremely guilty that it happened to him. They tried to help him remember who he really was. It was around that time he started hated being called Obito. He attacked his girlfriend and killed her, but not really on purpose. His best friend, however, tried to stop him and got slashed across the left side of his face, slicing his eye. Feeling very guilty, Obito cut out his own left eye and put it into his friend's. He seemed to be quite a medic before he lost everything in his accident. So he knew what he was doing. It was a wonder how they both lived. But after that, Obito became completely Tobi and he hates the name Obito. You say it in front of him, he'll lose his temper, becoming extremely violent. It's a wonder how you managed to get through to him without him hurting you. That's the first time it's ever been done." Chiyo told her.

Sakura just shook her head as she looked sadly away at Obito's story. "You just have to figure out what works with the patient. Tsunade always told me that you have find out what the patient likes the most before trying to get close to him. Just by talking to Tobi, I could tell he just didn't like people yelling at him and just talk softly with him. Then I exploited his weakness. Which, appears to be oranges." She said now smiling.

Temari just smiled with the others before shaking her head. "Still, very impressive. Obito's not the most trustful person. But if you can earn his trust, then you can probably earn anyone else's trust." She said brightly.

Kankuro then frowned as he folded his arms and looked away. "Probably. But I highly doubt that sharing an orange will work with Gaara, though." He muttered bitterly.

That name caught Sakura's attention. She blinked in surprise at him before looking at Temari to see that she too shared the same sad look as her younger brother. So, obviously, this 'Gaara' meant something to her. And judging the look on Kankuro's face, him too.

"Who's Gaara?" Shikamaru asked, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

There was a long silence before both Temari and Kankuro shook their heads. They both looked a little uneasy about discussing this with Sakura and Shikamaru but they didn't hold back. "He's…..he's our younger brother." The blonde said carefully. Both Sakura and Shikamaru blinked in surprise.

"You're…..brother?" Sakura asked stepping back in surprise before she shook her head. She remembered that Temari had mentioned that her brother was a patient there earlier when they were arguing with Dr. Wie. She had mentioned that Dr. Wie had tried to up her brother's sedatives, and almost got his throat crushed by the patient in the process. "That's right. You mentioned him earlier with Dr. Wie." Sakura added softly. Temari paused to think before she remembered what she said earlier and nodded.

"That's right, Miss Haruno." Chiyo stated being very careful. "He'll also be your patient you'll be working with."

Both Temari and Kankuro jumped as if they had been shocked before they looked wide eyed at her with alarm. "What?! No!" The blonde said shaking her head. "No, Chiyo! Sakura can not be Gaara's doctor! She's not ready to handle him! He's way out of her league!"

Sakura just frowned as she glanced at the blonde. She wasn't sure why Temari was so worried. Surely this Gaara wasn't that bad. She was used to working with very dangerous patients anyway. How bad could he be?

Chiyo, however just shook her head at the young blonde. She looked slightly agitated that Temari was questioning her decision but she wasn't going to complain too much. "Temari, like it or not, Sakura has come here from Konoha to help take care of the patients. She has been trained to take care of some extreme patients. Therefore, it is her duty to help all of the patients here at the Asylum. That includes Gaara." She glanced over at the pink haired woman next to her who looked slightly confused. "Sakura, Gaara Sabaku, as Temari and Kankuro just stated, is their younger brother. He's actually about your age, now that I think about it. Maybe just slightly older. He's our most unstable and dangerous patient, so you will not be working with him alone. You will have a guard with you at all times. And you are to never do anything he asks." She told her seriously.

Sakura frowned as she glanced over at Shikamaru, meeting his same confused look but then looked back at the old woman. "What do you mean?" She asked frowning.

Chiyo just shook her head as she looked right into Sakura's pretty green eyes. "Gaara has a habit of coaxing people into false state of trust, making them think he's not going to hurt them. There had been a few times that some of our medics were tricked into believe that he was harmless. And when they get too close, he usually takes a nice chunk out of them with his teeth or they scratched rather badly by his nails. He likes to play mind games with his doctors." She informed the two. "So if he ever asks you to move closer to him, or undo his jacket sleeves, which yes, he's to wear a straight jacket whenever you work with him, you don't do it. Because he will not hesitate to hurt you."

Sakura blinked thoughtfully as she took in the information. Just by listening to the way Chiyo was talking about this Gaara, he sounded like some kind of animal. Like he was a wolf who preyed on a rabbit. This, however, didn't scare Sakura as though it should have. No, in fact, it only intrigued her even more.

"I would like to meet him." Sakura found herself suddenly say.

Her words seemed to strike the other four dumb the very second they were out of her mouth. Both Temari and Kankuro stared wide eyed and jaw dropped at her, looking as if she had just gone insane. Shikamaru just frowned as he glanced at her from the corner of his eyes and Chiyo's face slowly hardened into a mask of determination and awe, as if she was already impressed with Sakura's brave effort.

"You did get the hint that Gaara Sabaku is dangerous, didn't you?" the old woman asked, carefully.

Sakura just bit her lip before she slowly nodded. She had heard them mention it, but still. She was interested into seeing how dangerous he was. "I know. But…..I guess you can say I have a thing for dangerous situations. A thrill seeking problem, I guess you can say." She told her. Kankuro snorted as if she had just used the wrong word. "Woman, you have a whole lot more than that. You have a death wish." He stated. The pink haired woman just shrugged innocently at his words. "I guess so. But I would still like to meet him. Now if it's possible." She said, trying to smile.

There was a pause before Chiyo slowly nodded. "All right. But I do hope that you know that you are risking a lot by meeting him immediately. He might scare you away." She told her. Sakura just shook her head as she gave her a brave smile. "I don't scare too easy." She stated, though that was sort of a lie.

* * *

The white room was rather small with only a steel table bolted to the floor while there were two chairs on each end of the table. On one chair, there were shackles or a link where they could lock the shackles. There were only two doors, one lead into the hidden room behind the mirror like window and the one that lead into the room. There was another door in the hidden room, that lead out of the hall and that was how they entered it.

Sakura was standing in the hidden room with Chiyo, Shikamaru and the siblings, while waiting for the guards to bring the patient in. The guard from earlier that morning, Baki, as Sakura had learned it, was there too. Apparently he was one of the only guards that knew how to handle Gaara. He was a kind man, by what Sakura learned, yet stern when he needed to be. He greeted her warmly and even acknowledged Shikamaru's skills. He seemed impressed with how smart the young man when he listened to Sakura brag about some of the challenges she threw at him on their way there to Suna City. Shikamaru only blushed with a little flattery while Temari rolled her eyes.

Just then, there was a loud bang, making all turn when they heard some kind of commotion right outside the white room. It sounded like there was a fight going on outside. And judging by the looks on Temari and Kankuro's faces, it was their brother with the guards.

_"Baki, sir! We've got Sabaku! He's putting up a fight on coming in! He's not entirely in the best of moods! Are you sure that we should let the doctor see him?!" _came a frantic voice from a guard over the radio.

Baki frowned before glancing side wards at Sakura, as if asking her if she still wanted to meet him. Sakura was slightly pale after hearing that kind of commotion but then she lift her head, looking bold again before nodding to Baki. He sighed before turning back to his radio. "Yes. Bring him in. She'll be waiting inside the room." He ordered then motioned for Sakura to enter the room.

Swallowing hard, Sakura nodded and went into the white room, with Shikamaru right behind her. They had already agreed to have him standing by, just in case that she needed help with Gaara. So she went over and sat down in one of the chairs while Shikamaru stood off by the wall, watching the door very carefully.

Suddenly there came a crash outside the door before it was yanked open, making Sakura grow a little tense. There were shouts right outside the door, as well as growls and curses. It sounded like a wild animal being yanked into a cage. A guard yelped as if he had just been injured but chose not let it bother him. Instead, the guards outside the door, roughly grabbed the patient and yanked him into the room, rather roughly.

And finally, Sakura got to see Gaara Sabaku.

At first, she didn't get good view of him because he was thrashing around trying to fight with the guards but she did get a good view of his wild blood-colored hair on top of his head. Right under his bangs, on the left side of his forehead, he had a tattoo; the Kanji word of Love. He was rather pale, so obviously he didn't get very much sunlight in his room. He was wearing the usual gray patient's uniform, as well as a white straight jacket which was somewhat stained with what seemed to be blood stains. And then she caught sight of those wild looking teal colored eyes, surrounded by dark rings. She felt as if she was entranced immediately just by seeing them. They were such a gorgeous color of sea-foam.

And she felt as if her breath had just been sucked right out of her lungs as those wild teal eyes turned onto her, stopping immediately as they looked right into her emerald green ones. He was rather handsome for someone so unstable like him, if Sakura really couldn't call him actually gorgeous.

Everything seemed to stop for a brief moment before the red head remembered that the guards were touching him. He growled at them, like an animal, which the guards ignored. Instead, they marched him right over to the empty chair and slammed him down right into it, not even caring that he hit his head on the back of the head rest. He growled again as if in pain before gnashing his teeth at the one guard that slammed him down so hard. Sakura had winced when she the guards being so rough with her patient before she stood up sharply, slamming her hands onto the table. "That's enough!" She said sharply, catching their attention. The guards looked at her in alarm but then shook their heads. "Ma-am, you have to be rough this one. He's like a wild animal……!" One was saying.

"Get out!" Sakura snapped as she pointed at the door. "He is not a wild animal! He's a human being! You do not need to handle him so roughly! If I were him, I would have wanted to try and bite you too! Now leave right now!"

The guards shot her a dark look before they left while calling her a "stupid bitch" under their breaths.

Sakura ignored them other than just glaring at their backs until the door was closed and she was alone with Shikamaru and Gaara Sabaku, who was also glaring at the door as if burning holes through it into the guards' backs. After a few seconds, he looked sharply in Sakura's direction, who just took a deep breath to calm herself then she looked back at him, meeting his sea-foam eyes. She felt her breath being taken away again as she stared into his eyes but then offered him a smile as she sat back down into her chair. "Hello. You must be Gaara Sabaku." She said gently.

Gaara didn't answer but glared right at her, his head dipped a little lower. He looked her over very quickly, almost questioningly at the same time but still with distrust.

Sakura continued to smile as she reached up and brushed her long bangs out of her eyes and then folded her hands in front of her onto the table. "My name is Sakura Haruno. I've taken Dr. Wie's place as the Psychiatrist here. Apparently," she made a face. "He really hasn't been very nice to you or the others. So Ms. Chiyo had no choice but to let him go. So I'm pretty much your new doctor." She said smiling.

Still no answer but a hard glare.

With a faint smile, Sakura took a deep breath before she shifted her weight in the chair. She felt a little uneasy with him staring at her like that. "So, Gaara, I just wanted to get to know you a little. Would it be all right if I asked you a few questions?" She asked, gently, though she shifted again, when Gaara's eyes narrowed at her. She was really starting to get a little uncomfortable now.

The red head still didn't answer but stared at her. But after a second, his eyes flickered away from her, onto Shikamaru next. He seemed to be observing the guard carefully, as if looking for something.

Sakura glanced over her shoulder at her former classmate and saw that he was not looking too well right at the second. He was staring right back at Gaara, yet he seemed to be surprised about something. It was if he was a mouse caught in the glare of a snake. And no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't look away. "That's Shikamaru, he's new too." Sakura said suddenly, hoping to pull Gaara's glare off of the guard. And it worked. Gaara turned his sea-foam colored eyes back onto her. Behind her, Sakura heard Shikamaru let out a low sigh of relief. She didn't look at him again but stared right back at Gaara. "So, um, Gaara. You probably have some questions you want to ask me, right? You know, get to know your doctor." She rested her chin onto the back of her hands while smiling at him. "As me any question, I'll answer any one of them." She said brightly.

There was a very long silence, before Gaara's face changed a little. He was no longer looking at her with a look of contempt but a very smug look as if he was just about to do something to embarrass her or say something rude.

"……has your forehead always been that big?" he muttered savagely.

It was the latter one; the rude one.

Within her head, Sakura heard glass breaking and her eye started twitching. She was trying very hard to keep the pleasant smile on her face, though it was very strained. She could also hear the inner voice inside her head, screaming for her to punch this guy's lights out. But she knew she couldn't do that. Not to a patient.

Gaara seemed to know that he had just touched a nerve, because his lips curled into a very evil sneer as his head dipped down lower and he looked right into Sakura's twitching eyes. "What? Did I touch something I shouldn't have?" He asked in a very dark way.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Sakura forced her smile again before lowering her hands to the table. She was trying very hard not to lose her temper with this one. She knew this was going to be a whole lot tougher than she thought. But she was sure she would find some point of weakness in Gaara. "No. It's okay." She said softly as she looked right back into his eyes, whose sneer was immediately gone and he was scowling at her for not reacting. "Like you have red hair, I was born with a big forehead. But we're not here to talk about me……"

"I thought you just said that we were." Gaara said quietly, his lips curled upward in a cruel smile again. "Did you not just say, ask any question and I'll answer it?"

Sakura paused before she slowly nodded. She knew he had a point. "Yes. And I answered it. Do you mind if I ask a question then? Maybe we can play 20 questions. You ask me a question, then I'll ask a question. And then you can ask another question."

"Not interested." Gaara stated darkly.

Sakura froze before sighing as she looked at him. She was trying to keep her patience at it's limit. She wasn't used to someone trying her patience like this. But then again, there had to be some time that there was a patient like Gaara. She knew she had just met her greatest challenge. "All right then. Not 20 questions. But go ahead and ask another question and I'll answer it." She told him.

Another long silence before Gaara lift his head up higher, his eye lids rather heavy as if he was tired. But then he tilted his head to the side. "Are you stupid?"

"What?" Sakura asked, now her patience running thin.

Gaara shook his head as he looked right into her eyes. He looked rather impatient now, as if he was dealing with the dumbest adult on the planet. It was like he was stating the most obvious things and she wasn't getting it. "I'm pretty sure those fools I call siblings behind the mirror window warned you that I was a dangerous person to be dealing with. Yet, you're being very stupid in speaking to me in the first place." He said in a very bitter tone.

Sakura watched him for a moment before she glanced over to the mirror window. She was pretty sure that Temari and Kankuro weren't too happy with that remark. But still, she just knew that he was trying to aggravate her. She had a patient or two like him before. The trick was not to let his words get to her. So she decided she would put up a barrier to let the harsh words bounce right off.

"Gaara, I'm speaking to you because I want to help you. I want to get to know you." Sakura said calmly.

Gaara narrowed his eyes again at her before shifting his crossed arms within his jacket as if he was trying to itch his arms. His eyes flickered over to Shikamaru again, who just watched him carefully. Because he was watching, he stopped moving his arms before he looked back at Sakura. "What if I don't want you to help me or get to know me? What if I don't like you?" He said dryly. Sakura only shook her head as she folded her arms, returning the somewhat dry look he was now giving her. She was definitely starting to lose her patience with this one. But then again, he was a mystery she was itching to solve. So with a shrug, she shook her head. "Well, I can't make you like me or anything. But I can sure try. If it helps much, I like you. You're an interesting person, as I can already see that." Her eyes flickered up to the tattoo on his forehead. "Can I ask you one little question though?"

Gaara's eyes almost became slits when he narrowed them at her before he looked upward as if to see his own tattoo. "It's not completely a tattoo. Not completely." He said quietly. That surprised Sakura greatly and he nodded. "It's a scar covered by a tattoo. Want to see it?" the red head asked carefully.

Truth be told, Sakura really was interested now. She was staring at the symbol with such interest. She did want to get a closer look but the warning that Chiyo had given her was flashing in her memory. She had also almost felt Shikamaru growing tense behind her. He was obviously remembering the warning too. She tilted her head towards the mirror before looking at Gaara again, forcing a smile. "Sorry. I'm not authorized to come any closer." She told him quietly. "Hmm." The red head snorted before shifting his arms again before tilting his head back, his face twisted in discomfort. Sakura frowned and tilted her head to the side. "Something wrong?" She asked.

Gaara gave her a dry look before looking discomforted again as he began moving his head back and forth, as if something was bothering him. Then with a low frustrated growl, he looked right at her in the eyes. "There's an itch on the back of my head that's bugging me and I can't reach it." He grumbled.

Sakura almost started laughing with amusement so she just settled with a smile and a sigh. Then she started to stand up. "Okay. Just don't move and I….."

But Shikamaru placed a hand onto her shoulder, holding her down. She looked up at him in surprise, but he shook his head. "Sakura, no." He told her, giving her a reminding look that this was not a good idea. But another agitated growl came from Gaara, and an impatient look came from Sakura, as if she was telling him to let her stand up. Again, he shook his head before placing his hand onto the hip pouch he wore on his left side as he moved forward. "Sakura, don't move. I'll deal with it." He told her carefully before walking slowly over to Gaara, who was jerking his head trying to itch the back of it.

But as Shikamaru came closer, the red head went perfectly still looking straight at Sakura, who was watching him carefully. "It's on the back of my neck at the hairline. There's a scar there and that's where it is." He stated to Shikamaru. "So, Sakura Haruno, was it? You're aware that your name means cherry blossom?"

"Yes." Sakura said quietly as she carefully watched as Shikamaru bent down a little to see if he could find the scar that Gaara was referring to. "My father named me Sakura because of my hair color and because I was born under a cherry tree during the spring."

Gaara slowly nodded as his eyes flickered up to her hair, quietly scanning it before he looked at the corner of his eyes, when Shikamaru couldn't seem to find where the itch was. "Are you having trouble back there on itching my head?" He asked impatiently. "If you can't find it, just undo my jacket so I can scratch it myself then I'll let you do it up again."

Shikamaru snorted as he straightened a little to give the red head a dull stare. "Heh, not going to happen." He stated briefly before he just decided to just scratch the entire neck area. That was when he felt the scar. Frowning, he bent closer to see it and saw the scar hidden somewhat at the base of his hairline. It was a strange looking scar. It looked more like a line, as someone had shoved a knife against the back of his neck, against his head. It was old but it still looked rather bad. "What the…..?" He muttered.

"Shikamaru? What is it?" Sakura asked, now frowning.

Shikamaru only frowned as he looked at the scar, then noticed something else. There was another scar right above the line, a round one. As if someone tried to shoot this guy in the head.

And that's when Gaara decided to be a little vicious.

Sakura blinked in surprise when she saw Gaara's agitated frown curl into a wicked smirk, aimed right at her. His head dipped down a little as he smirked at her, startling her. It was a smile of a predator who just gotten his way. Then Gaara threw his head backwards and slammed the back of it right into the center of Shikamaru's face, making him cry out as he hit the ground. And if that wasn't startling enough, the red haired patient jerked his arms free from their crossed state and dropped down to his sides as he stood up quickly. He turned around and grabbed the groaning Shikamaru, throwing him over to the side, against the door before he kicked the chair he had just been sitting in at hard against the hidden room's door, just as there was a click as if Baki was going to come out to Shikamaru's aid. Surprisingly, the chair slid right under the door handle and kept it from opening.

Startled by the very actions, Sakura was quickly on her feet, knocking her own chair backwards onto the ground. She gasped when she saw Gaara turn her way and took several strides towards her. She practically threw herself against the wall to get away from him, terrified out of her wits now.

However, Gaara slammed his covered hands forward into the wall, sitting them both beside Sakura's head. She was now trapped right between his arms, staring wide eyed up at him and pressed tightly against the wall as he looked right at her. There was banging coming from the hidden door and shouts on the other side. But that didn't seem to worry the red head at all. He just smirked down at the terrified pink haired woman staring up at him. Sakura's heart was pounding hard against her chest as her mind was nearly reeling with terrifying images. She was so sure that Gaara was going to hurt her now. He had her right where he needed her to hurt her. And it seemed that he had both doors blocked off from anyone getting in. So it wouldn't take too long to causing her harm before someone came in to helping her. She swallowed hard as she drew back as far as the wall would let her.

However, the red haired patient moved closer until his face was merely inches from her own face, his sea-foam colored now dark as a stormy ocean and there was a cat-like smirk on his face as he just looked right into her wide green eyes. But then something caught his eye. His eyes fell down to her cheek, and he frowned. He could see the faint tinge of black and blue under her make-up. 'A bruise.' He thought. His eyes flickered right back up to meeting hers. He almost laughed insanely to see her so scared of him.

"Now……do you understand why no one ever helps me?" Gaara asked almost in a whisper. "There is no trust. You can never trust me. And if you think you are going to try and help me, guess again. Because if you come near me again, I'll probably kill you."

Suddenly the doors burst open as Baki finally managed to get the door open enough to knock the chair away and Shikamaru finally regained his complete consciousness, getting up so that the other guards could rush in. He was holding a bleeding nose though, letting blood trail down his face before he rushed over, grabbing at a sedative he had in his hip pouch.

However, before he or Baki could get any closer to Gaara and Sakura, the red head sniffed the air around her before smirking coolly at her then turned away, crossing his arms as if he was going to let them redo his straight jacket. With an agitated scowl, Baki shook his head before grabbing the back of the jacket and shoving Gaara against the mirrored window and did up the straight jacket again, tighter than the last time.

Temari and Kankuro quickly entered the room, merely glancing at Gaara just as he being shoved towards the door to go back to his Isolation cell. His eyes met theirs for a brief second before he was shoved out of the room. So instead, Temari hurried over a very stiff and pale Sakura, who had not moved at all. "Sakura! Are you okay?!" She asked as she touched the pink haired woman's shoulder. "Did he hurt you?!"

Sakura blinked a few times before looking up at the blonde before shaking her head, still trembling from the sudden excitement. She felt like she was going to fall down from shaking so hard. But she slowly shook her head. "N-no. He…..he di-didn't even touch me." She said shakily.

Temari blinked in surprise before she drew in a sharp breath and looked away as if something dawned on her. "That's right. He never did touch you." She said breathlessly before looking at the door that Gaara had gone from. Then her lips curved upward a little with the sudden realization. "He…didn't even move to hurt you. That's an improvement."

* * *

The door to the Isolation cell where Gaara stayed in slammed open and the red haired patient was practically tossed into the darkened room. He almost ran head long into the opposite wall but he managed to stop in time. He just smirked as he leaned against the wall, looking over his shoulder at the door that just slammed shut, leaving him in the darkness. He stood there against the wall before deciding to free his arms again as he had before.

The thing was about the straight jacket he was wearing was that it was the same one they always gave him. He had kept up this kind of charade before, acting up until they had no choice but to keep a straight jacket right next to his isolation cell. When he knew it was the same one they always put him in, he had acted up so bad once that they practically just left the straight jacket on him when they took him back to his cell. He had already figured out on how to undo the jacket, himself so he could get out of it pretty easily after many practices. And to make sure that he could get out really fast, he had worked on the jacket, having a string inside the sleeves so that to pull the straps free from their trapped state, therefore, freeing his arms. That's how he had undone his jacket while in that room with that woman.

That woman.

A smirk curled onto Gaara's face as he called back the memory of her fearful eyes. He hadn't been able to hide it himself, but he was found this one a little interesting. Which was why he didn't hurt her. He was playing a game with human chess with her now. He had made his first devastating move, challenging her bravery. Now it was up to her to take up his challenge. If she didn't take it, all well. At least he would be rid of her. But if she did, it only made the game even more fun.

Pulling the strings within the sleeves, Gaara finally freed himself from the jacket and lowered his arms to his sides, letting the circulation back in. He smirked again as he reached into his pants and pulled out what he had stolen from the pink haired woman.

Her wallet.

He had grabbed it out of her jacket pocket while she was staring at him with fear like she had. That was another thing he was good at. Pick pocketing. He didn't do it often but now and then he would do it. And he knew she would have to come back for it. It was hers, after all. With this, he could figure out all her secrets. He had to admit it, but Sakura Haruno was an interesting one. She had been rather persistent in wanting to help him and he had a feeling that she was going to be an interesting victim to play around with. Especially she smelt so good. He had smelled the scent of strawberries and crème on her. "This should be most interesting." He said smirking to himself before stashing the wallet under his pillow and laying down on it. Now, it was her turn to move.


	5. Chapter 5

Title: The Devil's Whisper

Short Summary:  
Sakura is a Psychiatrist for a mental hospital for the Konoha Hospital who then gets moved to her dream job in the Suna Hospital for the Criminally Insane to take care of a very dangerous patient named Gaara. WARNING! Sasuke bashing!!

Pairings:  
Sakura/Sasuke, Sakura/Gaara

Warning: Story contains implied and/ or scenes of: major language, torture, rape, angst, adult scenes, violence and probably more…

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of its characters. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

Chapter V.

After the incident with Gaara Sabaku, Sakura had been told by Chiyo that she could go home if she needed to calm her nerves. But she just told the old woman that she would be okay. She wanted to be there at the hospital, meeting her new patients. That was all that mattered to her. She had already met two of them of course. The first had been Tobi and that had gone very well. And the second, well, the meeting with Gaara Sabaku had not gone well at all. It had been actually horrible. Sakura took an hour break to calm herself down her nerves. But as soon as she was settled down, she asked Chiyo for the list of her patients, just so that she could introduce herself to them. Temari was still a little uneasy about letting her start so suddenly but the pink haired woman kept on insisting so she just nodded for Chiyo to do it. So Chiyo grabbed the list of Sakura's new patients and they set out to meet them all.

The first one that Sakura was to meet happened to be the blonde man she had seen that morning, the one playing around with clay. He was a rather interesting fellow. His name was Deidara. He was a rather cheerful person and he had a deep love for clay art which was why he always had some. With every sentence he spoke, though, he always added,_ "un."_ to the end it. He was rather enthusiastic about meeting Sakura, but that was because he was always enthusiastic when someone said that his art was great. From what Sakura learned, the reason why he was in the hospital was because he had a very unhealthy lust for blowing things up. He absolutely loved bombs.

The next few were just some patients that didn't interest her too much. They would be easy to win over. Another one of her new patients was a very unusual man by the name of Hidan. From what she learned, he was extremely religious and he didn't like women too much. He was also somewhat a voodooist. So he had several dolls all over his room, which he would take down and do whatever he felt like. Chiyo completely refused to let him near Sakura though. She told her that the voodoo dolls actually did work but only if they had something that belong to the doll's possessor.

Another one was a man called Nagato but he preferred to be called Pain. Sakura made the mistake of asking him why such a morbid name but he completely ignored her after that. He acted as if she wasn't even there.

One by one Sakura got to meet her patients. Some she liked and knew she would get along with just fine and some she knew was going to be very hard to get along with. But the last patient she was to meet, she was in for a shock for. She had not been expecting to have a patient like this one. For she had thought he had been dead.

Chiyo lead her to last room, which was seemingly dark inside. Sakura was very anxious to meeting this last one. She was smiling as she reached for the file hanging near his door but before she could touch it, a hand covered it, stopping her. "Huh?" She asked in surprise before looking to see Madara Uchiha there. He had a smile on his face, yet clearly he was forcing it. He looked right into Sakura's eyes before looking over at Chiyo. "Ms. Chiyo, I don't think it's a good idea if Miss Haruno works with this one." He stated simply. Sakura blinked in surprise. She didn't understand. Why would he say something like that? What was wrong with this patient? Surely he couldn't be worst than Gaara Sabaku.

Chiyo seemed to be thinking the same thing for she lift her head higher. "Why not, Madara? He's not that dangerous. Usually he just sits there, not saying or doing anything."

"……" Madara hummed before he plucked the file right off the wall. He sighed as he flipped it open, looking at the information inside. "I'm afraid….that Miss Haruno might go into a state of shock if she finds out who he is. She has a personal connection with this one." He told them both.

Again Sakura blinked in surprise. "What? What do you mean? I don't know anyone here in Suna City? How could….." She was saying.

Madara blinked only once before he looked right into Sakura's eyes. He was quiet for a long moment before he closed the file and tucked it under his arm. He seemed to be trying to approach the subject carefully but then with a sigh, he tilted his head to the side. "A half an hour ago, I got off the phone with my nephew, Sasuke. He's told me some very interesting things." He rose a hand when Sakura stepped back with a hint of fear in her eyes. "Don't be afraid. I told him he's not to even step foot on the Asylum's grounds. If he comes here looking for trouble, I will deal with him, Miss Haruno. I strictly told him he is not to cause trouble for you at all. And if he goes against my orders, I will not be very nice to him." He tried to reassure her. She didn't relax though. "Thing is….well, this patient….."

"Wh-who is it, Mr. Uchiha?" Sakura asked still a little shakened that he even mentioned about talking to Sasuke.

Again, he was quiet for a long moment before he sighed and held the file out to her. "It'd be easier for you to just take a quick look at this than to let you just step in there. But if you faint," He tried to lighten the mood. "I'll catch you. I promise."

Uneasily, Sakura reached for the file with a somewhat trembling hand and when she took it, she looked at it in her hand, before she saw the surname written on the tab. Her eyes grew wide when she saw _"Uchiha"_ on it. Her heart now hammering against her chest, she opened it and looked at the personal record inside. A second later, she dropped it, almost stunned. She whirled around and looked through the small window, but couldn't see anything for it was too dark. So she quickly used the key card to open the door, and stepped inside, looking around.

Her emerald green eyes found him sitting in the dark, with only a candle as light. He was writing in what looked like a journal. He didn't even seem to acknowledge her presence. He just sat in silence, his head lowered over his book and writing in that day's activities. His long black hair was pulled back into a loose pony tail with long bangs hanging over his dark eyes. He was the only patient she had seen that was wearing a black uniform. He seemed to have been granted permission to wearing black instead of gray. His skin was a little pale but he looked very well for someone who didn't leave his room often. Either way, Sakura knew him.

"……It….It-Itachi." She found herself whisper.

Itachi Uchiha finally lift his head before slowly turning to looking over his shoulder at her. He just stared, as if he didn't even know her. There was such a haunting look on his face that Sakura never thought she would ever see there. But as they looked right into each other's eyes, recognition slowly dawned in his dark eyes. His mouth parted a little before he put down his pen and turned slightly in his chair to see her better. "Sakura?" his unused voice murmured in mild surprise.

Sakura slapped a hand over her mouth as tears prickled her eyes. She couldn't believe he was here. He was here at the Suna Asylum, alive. After all these years of believe he was dead, he was here alive. She felt herself take a step forward as if to rush over to him. She wanted to run to him and throw her arms around him, embracing him tightly.

But Madara Uchiha's hand clapped onto her shoulder, holding her back.

She blinked in blurry surprise at him before looking back at Itachi, who slowly stood up and moved towards her instead. She felt the urge to just yank away from Madara to throw herself at the tall man who once had been her friend. But then, she suddenly remembered Sasuke's words. Her eyes hardened rather dangerously and she dropped her hand, balling it up. "I am so going to kill him!" the words hissed right out of her mouth, startling Chiyo, Madara and Itachi, who immediately stopped in front of her. Sakura shook her head as she tightened her fists and looked up at Itachi. "Sasuke told me that you were dead. He never told me that you were here. He told me….." She felt an angry outburst just swirl right out of her.

However, Itachi seemed to realize how much pain she was in right at this second so he chose to do something that he didn't do very often with anyone. He reached out and took her wrist, pulling her right into his arms, embracing her. He felt Sakura stiffen but then she threw her arms around him, burying her face into his chest. He completely ignored the stunned looks on Madara and Chiyo's faces. He just let Sakura let out her frustration within his arms.

"Didn't think I'd ever see you here." He said in a very quiet voice.

Sakura cried a little before she pulled away and looked up at him with a smile. She was just so happy that he was alive and looking right at her. "Itachi, I can't believe that you're alive." She then blinked, pulling further away from him, now frowning in surprise. "And you. Are. Here. In the Suna Asylum." It dawned on her. "What are you doing here?" She asked in disbelief.

Itachi glanced over at his uncle and the warden before he shook his head and looked right back at her. "I'd rather not talk about with right this moment. But what are you doing here? Sasuke's not here, is he?" He asked, quietly.

The pink haired woman's eyes hardened at the name but she shook her head as she folded her arms against her chest. She felt the rage but she wasn't going to have it burst out again. "No." She said, rather bitterly. "But if he was, he'd be running for his life right about now." She sighed as she reached up and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Short version of the story, Sasuke and I are no longer together. He's betrayed my trust, completely."

This seemed to surprise Itachi a little before he motioned for her to take a seat. His eyes flickered over to Madara, who seemed to understand. The older Uchiha took Chiyo's arm and carefully led her out, whispering to her. Sakura sighed as she went over to the now vacant chair and sat down while Itachi went to sit on his bed, his spider like hands folding together. "All right. What's happened?" He asked quietly.

Sakura sighed before she looked down at the ground. "As you know, Sasuke and I started seeing each other even before your 'death'. At first it was just bliss between us. You saw how happy we were together. But everything fell apart when your parents were killed and then…..Sasuke went and told me that you were dead." She tried to explain.

Itachi looked away at the mention of his parents' death but he shook his head, without looking at Sakura again. "To Sasuke, I am dead, Sakura."

Sakura looked at him in surprise but he didn't make to explain. So she continued instead. "After your 'death', Sasuke started drinking, and heavily. He would come home so drunk that I barely recognized the man I fell in love anymore. He became so demanding, always demanding me….well, you know." She saw him nod in understanding. She was glad he caught on because she really didn't want to talk about sex with him. He was too much like her brother. It felt very awkward. "Anyway, he became so demanding and he got a little….well, after I tried asking about your death, he….." She couldn't finish.

And she didn't need to finish because he caught on. Itachi's eyes grew a little hard from realization and he looked away. "He began to hit you." He said in more of a question but without looking at her. He seemed to sense her nod because he looked back at her. "How many times has he abused you?"

"Almost every time he got the chance. He hit me when I tried talking about your or your parents. I couldn't even say your name without him going so berserk on me. He changed completely when your parents died, and you." Sakura said with a frown. But then she looked right at his eyes. "So this is why he always told me that I was to never come to Suna City. Because you were here." She tilted her head with a look of confusion her face. "Itachi, what happened between you and Sasuke? Why did he tell me that you were dead?" She asked, carefully.

Itachi kept his eyes adverted from her before he slowly looked at her again. For a long moment, he was quiet. But then he slowly stood up and took a steps towards her then bent down to one knee in front of her. "Sakura," he spoke quietly then took her small hand into his cool one. "Your pain is my fault. It's my fault that Sasuke has done this to you." He shook his head at the pink haired woman when she opened her mouth to say something. "Sasuke became cold and distant because of something I did, Sakura. I did something to hurt him, and greatly."

"……Itachi, you're scaring me. Wh-what did you do?" Sakura asked nervously yet serious at the same time.

Itachi turned his head away from her before he stood up and turned completely away from her. He was quiet for a very long time and this just seemed to bring more edge on Sakura. "……" The Uchiha hmmed before he shook his head. "Sakura, did Sasuke ever tell you how our parents died?" He asked, quietly.

Sakura frowned at him but shook her head. She remembered she had asked Sasuke about it. It had only got a nasty snipe from him. "No. he never said a word. But why does that matter, Itachi?"

"….." Itachi stepped further away from her. "Sakura…..the reason why I am here in the Suna Asylum is because I killed our parents." He told her quietly.

The air felt like it had just went ice cold all around Sakura or as if someone had punched her in the stomach, knocking the air from her lungs. She stared at Itachi with wide eyes of shock. She couldn't believe Itachi just said that. There must have been some kind of joke or some kind of misunderstanding? Itachi…..kill his parents? No. There was no way he would do that. He had adored his parents. He loved his mother. "It…..Itachi, what are you saying?" She asked in a very shaky voice.

Itachi shook his head as he kept his back to her. "I killed them, Sakura. I took a knife to them. Cutting into their bodies as if it wasn't a big deal." He slightly turned towards her again. "And Sasuke saw me do it. He was there the night they died. And I'm here because they thought I was insane. By rights, I should be in prison. Not some Asylum. It was my uncle, Madara who talked the courts into bringing me to the Asylum." He told her.

Slowly Sakura shook her head as she looked up at him with wide eyes. "B-but….why? Why would you do it?" She asked, her voice thick of pain.

Again, Itachi turned away from her, not wanting to look at her. "Another time, Sakura. Right now, you look worn out. I heard that my cousin, Obito went berserk today and the new doctor calmed him down. That must have been you." He made a sound as if he just smiled. "Of course it was you. You were always one who knew how to calm someone's temper easily. I still remember whenever Naruto lost his temper. You were always the one to be able to shut him up." He shook his head as he lowered it. "I'm not ready for you to know the reason why I killed my parents though, Sakura. You're not ready to know. Please, just leave." He told her.

Sakura sat there for a long moment before she slowly stood up and walked towards the door. She stopped in the doorway though, not moving out. Instead, she looked over her shoulder at Itachi, looking at him with pain. "Itachi, I don't understand. But I hope you will trust me to tell me." She told him quietly before she left him alone.

After that visit, Sakura was ready to call it a day. She wanted to get started with her new patients in the morning, and needed to collect her thoughts in silence. Something she knew she wouldn't be able to do there at the hospital. She asked Chiyo if it was all right and the old woman was more than happy to letting her go. She knew how tired Sakura must have been after the excitement with Gaara Sabaku. Sakura, however, stopped to check on Shikamaru, to see if he was okay. After nearly getting his face smashed in, he must been pretty banged up.

However, Shikamaru's nose was not broken as she thought it had been. It was just a little bruised but it would heal quickly. He didn't seem too worried about it at all. He was actually more worried about Sakura, actually.

"He's too wild and unstable, Sakura." Shikamaru said suddenly while they were sipping coffee together. "That Gaara guy. He's a little dangerous. Are you sure you should be messing with him?"

Sakura just smiled at him, a little touched by his concern. She knew that he was just a little worried about her welfare. "Don't worry too much, Shikamaru. I'll be fine. I'm not going to let Gaara scare me away. I'm going to help him if he likes it or not." She told him as she sipped her coffee. Shikamaru just shrugged lazily and looked away. "All right. Just be careful. It'll be a drag if something happens to you. I can just hear your pals in Konoha now. 'How dare you let Sakura get hurt, you lazy ass.'" He said imitating Ino's voice. Sakura laughed with him before shaking her head. "Ah, don't make fun of Ino-pig, Shikamaru. She'll find out that you were doing it and beat the living crap out of you." She told him.

Shikamaru just snorted before he looked again, looking serious once more. He was quiet for a minute before he turned back to Sakura. "No, but seriously. Just be careful. I think something might've happened to him to make him this way." He said quietly.

Sakura blinked in surprise at him before tilting her head to the side. "What do you mean? What do you think happened to him?" She asked, frowning.

Shikamaru's head dipped down a little as he stared straight forward but pressed his fingers together. "I don't know. But back in that room, before he went all psycho on us, he meant what he said. There was a scar on the back of his neck. Two of them. A line and a round one. It looked like someone took a knife to the back of his head then tried to shoot him. Someone's treated him real bad. I doubt that it was Temari and Kankuro though. They seemed to really care about him. I was talking to Temari about it and she said something about how Gaara didn't get along with their father very well. I tried to find out more but she wouldn't tell me anymore." He informed Sakura. "All I know is that Gaara's never felt the right to call his father, 'Dad' in all his life. It might have been his old man that's made him this way."

Sakura just looked away with a thoughtful frown on her face. It was a clue to the Gaara puzzle but not enough to put all the pieces together. She would definitely have to question her red haired patient about it. So she would leave it till tomorrow.

That night, Sakura went home to ponder over her patients. She knew that some of them were going to be very difficult to work with. Especially Gaara Sabaku. He didn't seem very cooperative at all. She knew that he was going to be her greatest challenge to cracking. What had made her a little uneasy about working with him was about what happened that day. Especially on how easy he had pulled his arms free from his straight jacket. It was like it hadn't been a problem at all for him. She wasn't sure about her patients, Nagato and Hidan. They just seemed a little too….she wasn't really sure what word to use for them. As for working with Itachi, she couldn't believe that she was now his doctor. This made a few things hard for her but she would try her best.

Knock, knock!

"Ah! The pizza's here!" Sakura said brightly before she hopped off her bed and grabbed her jacket as she walked to the front door. "All right! How much do I owe you?" She asked, as she dug into her pockets. She frowned when she couldn't find her wallet as she searched for it, then tried the other pockets. 'What the…..?! Where's my wallet?!' She thought as she began searching frantically.

Then she realized that the pizza guy hadn't said anything yet. So she looked up at him, to see if it was the pizza guy or not. And she froze.

Now, she didn't know this guy nor had ever seen him before, but she was sure if she had, she would remember him. She didn't think she would ever forget someone with such fuzzy eyebrows like this guy. Now, he wasn't a bad looking guy or anything. No, he was actually pretty good looking. He had black hair styled in a bowl cut and his eyes were rather dark, yet full of warmth and kindness. He was taller than her by three inches, yet built rather sturdy. He also seemed to be around her age too. Maybe a year older. But those fuzzy catipillar like eyebrows were right above his unusually round eyes.

And the only word that Sakura could find herself to say was, "Eww."

Realizing what she just said, she slapped a hand over her mouth, looking at the pizza guy with an apologetic look. "Oh! I'm sorry!" She gasped as she cursed herself. But then she frowned when the pizza didn't even reply to her remark. He was just staring at her as if she was something very stunning. A look she got a lot. So making a very dry look on her face, she slouched a little and raised an eyebrow at him. "Um, excuse me." She said, waving a hand in front of his eyes.

Blinking, the pizza guy realized he had been staring at her before turning bright red. "Oh! I'm so sorry! I did not mean to stare at you!" He said adverting his eyes away from hers. Sakura just shook her head as she tried to force a smile and plucked at her pink hair. "I know. Pink hair, right? I get it a lot." She said rather dryly.

"No!" The Pizza guy said blushing but looking back into her eyes. "No! It's not that! It's just……um….I don't want to weird you anymore than you probably are. It's just….please forgive my forwardness. But you are the most stunning angel I have ever seen. I have never seen such beauty as yours." He told her, blushing again and looking embarrassed again. "Please. Forgive me."

Not being able to help it, Sakura smiled and shook her head at him. She was used to reactions like this but in a way, this guy was kind of cute when he looked so flustered. Now, if only it wasn't for those bushy eyebrows. "No. It's okay. Um….how much for the pizza?" She asked now returning to her jacket to see if she could find her wallet. She just frowned even more when she couldn't find it.

"Oh! It's 5.95." The Pizza guy state.

Sakura just nodded as she searched all of her pockets and grew very frustrated when she couldn't find it. She bit her lip furiously before groaning and looking around the living room, to see if she might have dropped it somewhere in the room. But it didn't seem to be anywhere. "Shit! This is so not happening!" She cursed before holding up a finger to the pizza guy then she hurried into her bedroom to see if she had dropped it in there. The pizza guy just frowned as he stepped in a little to watch her but then stepped back out when she came back in a hurry, looking very frantic.

"Um….miss. Is there something wrong?" The pizza guy asked uneasily.

Sakura just shook her head as she scratched the back of her head while looking around with frustration. "Uh, yes. Oh! I mean no!" She sighed then looked at the pizza guy. "Well, I can't seem to find my wallet. And it has all of my money in it." She shook her head. "Damn it. Looks like I can't pay for the pizza. I'm sorry for making you come out here for no reason then."

The pizza guy suddenly got very bright eyed as he shook his head and held out the pizza box to her. "Oh! Well, I'll pay for it for you then, miss! That way I wouldn't have come out here for no reason!" He told her brightly. Sakura blinked in surprise before looking wide eyed at him and then shook her head at him. "Oh! No, no, no, no! That's very kind of you but I can't let you do that! We don't even know each other! And it'll just get you into trouble! Please, don't!" She told him, uneasily.

"It's not a problem, miss!" The pizza guy said smiling brightly at her. "Please, let me do this for you!" He saw her hesitate so he decided to introduce himself to make it a little less awkward. "My name is Rock Lee!" He said brightly holding out a hand towards her.

Sakura hesitated again before she sighed and smiled at him. Then she took his offered hand and shook it. "Sakura Haruno." She told him. "It's nice to meet you, Rock Lee."

Lee just shook his head grinning a stunning white smile at her. He shook her head before offering the pizza to her. "Please, it would honor me if you allowed me to buy your dinner for you. My boss wouldn't mind! In fact, he might be angry if I brought the pizza back to the pizza parlor. He doesn't like it when a customer asks for a pizza and then the pizza returns. He wouldn't mind if I paid it for you. Especially when it's such a lovely lady such as yourself." He told her.

Once again, Sakura hesitated but then with a sigh, she took the pizza and gave him a thankful smile. "Thank you, Rock Lee. I really appreciate it. I wish there was some way I could pay you back." She said.

Rock Lee shook his head rather enthusiastically as he just backed out of the apartment, still grinning at her. "Please. It's just Lee. And there is no need for a payment. But perhaps, we can have coffee sometime together. I wouldn't mind getting to know you." He told her. Forcing a smile, Sakura figured it wouldn't hurt. So she nodded then gave him her phone number for a later date. He left rather happily though.

So after he left, Sakura took her pizza into her bedroom and ate it while looking over her patient's personal files. She frowned at some of the histories of some of them. She didn't like what she saw in some of the personal histories. It was true of what Chiyo had told her about Obito Uchiha, now called Tobi. He had a medical record of his accident and there were even some pictures of what he had looked like after the landslide accident then after he killed his girlfriend. She grimaced at some of the pictures. It wasn't a pretty sight.

With Itachi's personal file, she saw that he had been serious when he told her that he murdered his parents. There was a police record there and with the influence from Madara Uchiha, he was considered insane. She knew for a fact that he shouldn't have been in a Mental Asylum. He was not one with a mental illness. She had known him most of her life from knowing Sasuke. It didn't give a reason why he killed his parents though. She'd have to get it from Itachi, himself then.

Then Sakura moved onto Sabaku, Gaara.

She found herself staring at his picture, feeling lost just by looking into his sea-foam colored eyes. It was just like how she felt during the first confronation. She felt herself almost swirling in the color of his eyes. But it wasn't just on how lovely his eyes were, it was the look in them. The sad and lonely look peered right up at her, a look she had seen once before in the eyes of her best friend, Naruto. She remembered seeing that look in his eyes. But the difference between Naruto and Gaara was that one was not stuck in a mental hospital for being unstable. But how did Gaara get like that in the first place. Sakura really wanted to know so she looked over the reports. She found a few police reports on him and there was also a Psychological report on him. She read that one first. It appeared to have been written by a Psychologist when Gaara was only a child.

_**It is under my observation that Gaara Sabaku is a highly depressed and lonesome boy. On the visits I shared with him, he was not very cooperative and unwilling to talk about himself. He would only share a few statements about how his invisible friends told him to never tell anyone about himself. I tried to pry once but unfortunately it seemed to cause too much distress on him that he grew violent.**_  
**_I have statements from his teachers saying that Gaara keeps to himself and hardly ever says a word even when they ask him a question. He is not very social with the other children and because of that, he is the target of bullies. There had been many times that he was picked on by the school bully, beaten up until his older brother, Kankuro Sabaku came to his defense.  
_****_His teachers also stated that there had been times that Gaara came to school with a few bruises on his person. Under suspicion that there might have been abuse at home, a school councilor contacted Gaara's father, Yondaime Sabaku to see what was going on at him. It was dismissed as abuse though. Mr. Sabaku clearly stated that Gaara was a little clumsy at home and ended up running into things. The Councilor even agreed with him after witnessing Gaara run into a door._**

Sakura frowned with disbelief when she read that. She wasn't sure if that was true or not. The Gaara she saw today was not really clumsy nor showed any signs of being clumsy. But then again, that was a long time ago. All children ended up running into something at the young age, so it wasn't uncommon. So she turned to the first police report instead, which would probably would explain what he was doing at the Asylum. To her growing shock, she found that Gaara had only been a kid when he first became very violent.

**_Late Tuesday night, October 9th, police enforcers, also known as the ANBU, and medical assistants were called to the Sabaku residence after an emergency call was made to the ANBU headquarters. Gaara Sabaku, age 16 years, was reported to have stabbed his uncle, Yashamaru to death a multiple times. Yondaime Sabaku, age 39, reported that he had just come home after work when he heard some kind of commotion inside their house. He rushed inside only to see his teenage son stabbing his brother-in-law with a foot long butcher knife. It seemed that Gaara had had a panic attack of some sort or a mental breakdown and became very violent with his uncle._**

_**He was shortly sentenced to a Teens Correction Facility after murdering his uncle. **_

Sakura felt her heart nearly stop when she read that but she shook her head and quickly went to the next report, which seemed to be a report from the Corrections Facility.

**_During Gaara's stay at the Suna Teens Correction Facility, Gaara had been very quiet and distant from the other boys, though a few times he would end up in a terrible fight with them. He grew very violent and unstable with some of the other boys. There had a few times that another boy had to go to the hospital from serious injuries. After a visit from his sister, Temari Sabaku, Gaara became very quiet and more cooperative. No one knows what was spoken between the pair. _**

The next paper was the second police report, which seemed to be the final nail to Gaara's personal coffin.

**_Early Friday morning, March 13, ANBU officers were called to the Sabaku Residence after receiving a call from a neighbor, Ms. Chow, reporting that she had been getting water late in the evening when she looked out her window and spied young Gaara Sabaku, age 18 years, digging in a large sandbox kept out in the Sabaku backyard. Suspcious, Ms. Chow went to investigate after Gaara went back inside and she discovered that he had buried the body of Yondaime Sabaku after stabbing him a multiple times all over the body. There was a statement that there had been an argument earlier that day between Yondaime and Gaara Sabaku but it wasn't reported the reason. Due to his mental instability, Gaara Sabaku was soon sentenced to the Suna City Asylum for treatment. _**

Sakura just frowned as she read the reports then returned to the front page of the file and looked at Gaara's picture again. She felt a little pity for him. She knew that it must have been his father then. It must have been his father abusing him when he was a child that drove him into insanity. She felt her heart go out to him. "Gaara, what happened to you?" She whispered before she laid down and stared at the picture she pulled out of the file. She stared right into the lonely look in his eyes.

Then it hit her all of a sudden.

The moment her wallet went missing was when she was in that room with Gaara Sabaku. She remembered that the pressure of her wallet had been lifted right out of her pocket while she had been staring up at the patient. Gaara must have taken her wallet when she had been distracted by him. "Oh, he is so dead." She growled under her breath.


	6. Chapter 6

Title: The Devil's Whisper

Short Summary:  
Sakura is a Psychiatrist for a mental hospital for the Konoha Hospital who then gets moved to her dream job in the Suna Hospital for the Criminally Insane to take care of a very dangerous patient named Gaara. WARNING! Sasuke bashing!!

Pairings:  
Sakura/Sasuke, Sakura/Gaara

Warning: Story contains implied and/ or scenes of: major language, torture, rape, angst, adult scenes, violence and probably more…

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of its characters. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

Author's Note: Just a warning now, this chapter is pretty lemony. There is a little sexuality in this chapter, so you know.

* * *

Chapter VI

Early in the morning, Sakura quickly cleaned herself up for the day and she pulled on black dress slacks and a red blouse before she headed straight to the Asylum. She arrived an hour later and went straight to the third floor to find a security guard in the security booth. She found Baki there, much to her relief. She trusted him and Shikamaru the most out of the guards. She told him the problem and asked if he could take her down to the bottom floor to visit with Gaara Sabaku and get her wallet back. Baki seemed rather amused when he found out that the patient had stolen her wallet but serious nonetheless. Especially when she told him that her access card was inside the wallet. The second that she stepped off the elevator, Sakura felt a wave of eeriness roll over her as she and Baki started down the long hall full of Isolation Cells. There was such an evil feeling in the air that it chilled Sakura to the bone. She began to regret that she came down there. She shivered as she moved a little closer to the guard, who didn't look phased at all. So obviously he was too used to come down all the time. Her green eyes flickered over to the doors of the Isolation cells to see a few faces pressed against the glass. There was a lot of yelling and banging within the cells as she passed by them. She saw a few grinning insanely at her while looking like they were doing something very inappropriate.

Fighting down a blush, Sakura quickly picked up her pace when she realized she had been hesitating behind Baki. Her eyes went straight to the door where the guard finally stopped by the furthest door, waiting for her. She quickly walked up to him, where he was standing then looked at the door.

Baki just merely glanced at her before he turned and slid a slot open, looking inside. He took a glance around before he seemed to find Gaara then he nodded. "Gaara, you have a visitor. So you better behave." He warned him before he turned to the security lock and swiped his access card through the lock. There was a beep and a green light flashed before he pulled the door open. He glanced around at Sakura and nodded for that she could step inside the room.

Sakura nodded, somewhat nervous but she took a deep breath and went right through the door to enter the darkened room. She saw Baki position himself at the doorway, watching carefully. She, on the other hand, just glanced around the small dark room before spying Gaara lying on his bed, facing her, but his eyes were closed, as if he was sleeping. But after seeing his eyelids twitch a little, she realized that the light was blinding him. With a grimace, she stepped off to the side till she was very close to the cot so that she was blocking the light off his face. There was also a possibility that he had been asleep before he was rudely awakened by have the light fall onto his face.

After a few minutes, Gaara cracked open an eye and gave her a very grumpy look before raising an arm to shield his face. "What do you want?" He growled.

"My wallet." Sakura said, just as dryly as he just said it. "I want it back right now. Hand it over."

There was a very cold silence between the two as they now glared at one another. It was almost like there were intensive bolts of electricity flying at each others eyes as they just looked one another in the eye. At the door, Baki was shifting a little uncomfortably. He knew this wasn't going to be ending well if she was going to talk to him like that. But then again, she seemed to know what she was doing. However, just in case, he placed his hand onto the tranquilizer gun at his hip.

"What makes you think I have your stupid wallet?" Gaara said in an icy voice, as he pushed himself up with his elbows. "What in the hell would I do with a damn wallet in this place?"

Sakura shook her head with a sigh and she shifted her weight to her other foot. She really did not want to get an argument with Gaara right now. She just wanted her wallet and she wanted to get to work. "Gaara, I know you have it. It went missing right after I talked to you yesterday. Please, just give it back." She said holding her hand out towards him. She could immediately feel the air intensify at her bold action. She knew she shouldn't have held out her hand to a dangerous patient like Gaara, but she was trying to show him that there could be some trust between them if only he tried. She was pretty sure even Baki went very tense. She saw Gaara stiffen a little before he eyed her with suspicion.

There was a long pause before the red head sat up and placed his feet on the cool ground. He stood up, merely standing away from Sakura, who did not back away at all but just stared him right into the eye. He wasn't pleased that she showed no fear of him but he didn't move to harm her or anything. It was something that he wasn't used to at all. Sakura tensed a little but she didn't draw away from Gaara. She wasn't going to show her fear to him, even though she was trembling within.

"Miss Haruno, maybe you should let me handle this." Baki said seriously.

Sakura just shook her head as she just looked Gaara right in the eye. She didn't make any move as if she was going to back down. She just challenged him, hoping it would get through to him. "That's all right, Baki. But thanks anyway. I'm Gaara's doctor. It's about time he figured out that I'm not scared of someone who needs me." She told the guard.

That didn't seem to settle on Gaara's part very well. His eyes narrowed at her dangerously before his head dipped down. "I don't need you, Haruno." He said acidly. Sakura kept her eyes on his but shook her head. "Your personal file says otherwise." She remarked right back at him.

Something flashed in Gaara's eyes and his mouth parted a little. He seemed to know what she was talking about. For a moment, he glared at her before he shook his head. "If you know what's good for you, you'll stay the hell away from me." He growled at her before he suddenly snatched her wrist, yanking her hand upward. Sakura gasped sharply but didn't pull away. She heard Baki swear as he moved forward to help her but Gaara didn't pay him any attention. Instead, he gripped Sakura's wrist tightly in his hand before slapping her wallet into it. He didn't let her go though. Sakura's heart was pounding hard against her rib cage but she couldn't even feel it. Her attention was on her trapped wrist. Gaara's hand felt rather hot against her skin but there was a tingling sensation running from his hand into hers. Almost like static. It felt….strange, yet not unpleasant.

"Gaara Sabaku!" Baki snapped as he moved forward, now aiming his sedative gun at the red head. "Let Dr. Haruno go! Now!"

Gaara ignored him. Instead, he pulled Sakura closer still glaring into her emerald green eyes with his own sea-foam ones. His frown, however, curled into a sinister smile as he moved closer to her. Sakura didn't protest. She actually looked like she was locked into a trance. Her green eyes were trapped by his.

"Gaara! Now!" shouted Baki.

His shout seemed to break Sakura out of her trance. She blinked several times before shaking her head and then pulled at her arm to free it from Gaara's grip. Her eyes hardened a little as she glared right up into her patient's eyes. "Gaara, let go of me. Unless you want to taking a long nap." She warned him and she didn't mean a sedative. She was on the verge of slugging him. She couldn't believe he had the gull to grab her like that.

Frowning, Gaara glared at her but then released her wrist. He didn't even move to touch her again. He actually backed away from her. Baki waited for a few seconds before he hurried forward and grabbed Sakura's arm, pulling her towards the door. Sakura let him but stopped in the door way to glance back over at the very annoyed looking Gaara. She saw him watching her as she was being pulled out of the room. She glanced side wards to see the straight jacket he had been wearing the day before, so with a shrug, she quickly grabbed it before exiting the room.

"Hmm. So much for trust." Gaara said darkly just as the door was closed.

Back just locked the door before he sighed with relief then wiped his brow. He turned to see Sakura now examining the straight jacket. "Miss Haruno? Are you all right?" He asked, a little puzzled that she was studying the jacket. Sakura just shook her head as she glanced over at him before offering him a smile. "Oh. Yes. I'm fine. I'm just wondering how Gaara got out of his straight jacket yesterday, that's all." She then shrugged. "I'll just have Shikamaru look it over, see if he can find anything suspicious about it or something. I know if there's something that Gaara did to this, he'll find it." She said before she blinked in surprise when she heard someone approaching.

"What's going on here?" Someone asked.

Both Sakura and Baki turned when they heard someone coming towards them, only to see two men walking towards them. The first was a very tall and thin man wearing a black uniform with a dusty white lab coat over it. He wasn't the best looking man that Sakura had ever seen but he was not the ugliest either. In fact, there was actually something very beautiful about this man. He had his fair looks. His black hair fell very long to his shoulder blades. He kept it pulled back into a loose pony tail while long bangs hung over yellow-green, snake like eyes. There was something so hypnotizing about those eyes that nearly entranced Sakura, much like how Gaara had when she first met him.

Behind him, his companion was a young man maybe a few years older than Sakura. He had gray blonde hair, which he also kept pulled back into a pony tail and hung over his dark eyes, which were hidden behind thin rimmed classes. He wore a similiar outfit to his older friend. There was something that Sakura didn't like about him though. Maybe it was the face that his eyes were actually roaming all over her, looking from head to toe. Clearly, he was interested in her by mere glance.

"Oh! Dr. Orochimaru! Kabuto!" Baki said quite surprised to see them, and not so pleased. He actually looked rather uneasy. "Sorry if we disturbed you, doctors. We were just having a little incident with Gaara Sabaku again. Nothing too serious though."

The tall man narrowed his eyes at the guard before glancing side wards at Gaara's cell. He stared at it for a long moment before turning his eyes back onto Sakura. He looked her over before smiling. "Well," He began with a low voice. "I do not think we've had the pleasure of meeting each other yet." He then held out out a pale hand towards her. "Hello. I am Dr. Orochimaru, the head of the Morticians. I, basically, take care of the bodies when a patients die." He told her. Sakura took his very cold hand, willing herself not to shudder when she found out what he did.

"And I'm Kabuto, his assistant." The gray haired man said now holding out his hand to Sakura.

Again, Sakura shook his hand before looking between them, forcing a smile. She really had not liked the feeling of their cool hands at all. They had almost felt like a snake's cool skin. "Hello, doctors. I'm Sakura Haruno. "I'm the new Psychiatrist." She told them. She almost shivered when Orochimaru smiled at her. That was not a very pleasant smile at all. In fact, he was looking at her like she was some kind of mouse for a snake to eat.

"Miss Sakura Haruno. What a lovely name. It suits you well." The raven haired man said, before glancing over at Gaara's door again. "Be careful of Gaara Sabaku, though, Miss Haruno. He's not the easiest person to get along with. He has such a beastly temper and I'm surprised any even tries to work with him."

Sakura frowned as she listened to the Mortician talking about Gaara like that. She didn't like it at all. She could already tell that she wasn't going to like Orochimaru very well. "Actually, Mr. Orochimaru, I find Gaara Sabaku rather charming. He just has this air of mystery around him that I find facinating. Yes, he might seem rather violent, but what patient isn't in this place?" She then shook her head as she folded her arms. "I like him and I'm sure in time he'll like me. I can't just give up on him now. He's my patient and I won't give up on him." She told the tall man, surprising not only him but the other two. She then looked at Baki and held out the straight jacket to him. "Baki, can you please have Shikamaru examine this straight jacket for me? I really think that Gaara's done something to it that helps him get out of it."

"Yes, Miss Haruno." Baki said smiling at her as he took the straight jacket.

Sakura just nodded to him before smiling at Orochimaru and Kabuto, bowing her head in respect to them. "It was nice to meet you, doctors. Now if you excuse me, I have patients to visit with." She told them before she turned away and walked away, leaving the men to stand together. The men just watched her go before looking around at one another. Orochimaru had a very sly smile on his face that Baki didn't like though. "Hmm. Interesting new doctor we have. I think I might like her. But I'm curious. She doesn't seem to know about the threat within the walls." he looked right back at the guard. "Have you not told her about the mysterious murders, Baki?"

Baki sighed but shook his head as he turned slightly away. "Not yet. Ms. Chiyo doesn't want to let Sakura know about that just yet. She wants to make sure she adjusts just fine before informing her about the deaths. But when we are to inform her, it will be Ms. Chiyo who does it." He told the pale doctor.

Orochimaru slowly nodded before he looked towards the elevator again, his thin arms folding across his chest. He just smirked to himself. "Don't keep it from her too long though. Eventually one of her patients might be one of those who have been killed and she seems the kind who connects her entire being with them. So if one of them dies, she might get hurt." He warned the guard before he turned and walked away with Kabuto.

The entire day had been more or less a success for Sakura. She had gone around the hospital and visited with all of her patients for a short while and interacted with them. She had brought an orange for Tobi like she had promised him. He was very excited to see her though. He even threw his arms around her waist, hugging her tight the very minute he saw her. Sakura just laughed as she embraced him right back before giving him her gift. He was more than excited to have another orange. With Deidara, all she had to do was sit with him and make clay art while talking to him. He wasn't very hard to talk to at all. She had learned from him that he was put in the asylum for blowing up a children's school. He had done it because his father told him to. Apparently, his father had been a serial bomber and had taught Deidara how to make bombs using clay. He also hadn't been a very nice man to the blonde man. He had actually made Deidara huff very strong chemicals while making his bombs and it had damaged his brain a little.

With the other patients, some of her methods weren't working quite as well as she hoped. She tired to work with Pain and Hidan but it was very difficult. They were not the most open people and they weren't that friendly either. They mostly just ignored her or creeped her out by their behavior. Hidan, actually, creeped her out the most. He had already created a voodoo doll that resembled her but the problem was he didn't have anything that belonged to her. And to make sure that he didn't, Sakura had a guard with her to keep him from getting too close to her. Chiyo had warned her of Hidan already.

Now the visiti with Gaara really didn't happen other than what happened that morning. Chiyo had informed Sakura that it was probably better if she didn't visit with him that morning. She wanted to wait a day or two before letting Sakura interact with him again. Just so that he could cool down his temper a little. So instead, she went to see Shikamaru to see if he found anything on Gaara's straight jacket yet. And the minute she walked into the Security booth, she knew he had.

For the second she stepped foot in the room, Shikamaru looked right at her before smirking and holding up the straight jacket. He waited till she was close enough before shaking his head. "I'll admit it. He might be insane, but he's smart." He informed her immediately.

"What did you find, Shika?" Sakura asked tilting her head to the side.

Shikamaru shook his head to the side before pulling one of the sleeves inside out and she saw a string dangling from the inside. He just grinned when she looked astonished seeing it. "He's attached this string to the straps outside the sleeves. That way, if he wants to free himself, he just has to pull the string and he's freed. Not the method I'd use but still, it's not something that a normal mental genius would think of." He explained to her. Sakura just smiled as she looked at the jacket. She had to admit it. But she was impressed. She hadn't thought that Gaara was that smart to think of something like this. "Wow! I wonder how long ago he did this." She said, giving Shikamaru a smile. Shikamaru just shrugged as he dropped the straight jacket onto the ground and then folded his arms. "Well, either way, he's not going to be using this jacket anymore. I told Baki about it and he's going to have it fixed so that this doesn't happen again." He then snorted. "Though, I swear, he was going to pass out from shock." He said chuckling.

Sakura just laughed into her hand before backing away from him. "Thanks, Shikamaru. Anyway, I'm on my way home. I'll see you tomorrow." She told him. Shikamaru just nodded before turning his attention back onto the security screen.s

For the next few days, Sakura's work with her patients were about the same. She got along with some but still had trouble with a few. She hadn't visited with Gaara for a few days, just letting things settle down before she decided to visit with him again. She had decided that they needed to work on the trust issue and she had decided to something a little rash that might work, but would not agree with Chiyo or some of the others. She knew it was going to be dangerous but if it worked, it was worth the risk. She had to give it a try.

So on Friday, she had Gaara brought into a white room for their visit. This time, it was Baki who would be watching over things. Before they entered the room, Sakura had surprised him by asking him if he trusted her. He had hesitated in answering but then told her that he did. He wanted to know what she had planned but she told him he would find out soon enough as they entered the room and waited for Gaara to join them. And when he did, Baki watched the red haired patient as he was dragged into the room and shoved into a chair. The guards were a little more careful doing so today. They didn't want to get yelled at by Sakura again. Once they left, Gaara gave her a very dark look as if asking what the hell she wanted today. Sakura was quiet for a long time before she faintly smiled and shook her head and picked up his old straight jacket off the ground, showing it to him. "Very smart, Gaara. I'm impressed with how you worked with this." She told him.

Gaara just eyed her with discontent but he he didn't reply to her. He just glared.

For a long moment, Sakura stared back at him before she dropped the straight jacket and stood up. She glanced over her shoulder at Baki before walking towards Gaara, who immediately stiffened with surprise. She saw him tense with alarm but she paid him no mind as she walked straight up to the red head, who was watching her with suspicion.

"Miss Haruno! What are you doing?" Baki asked, with alarm.

Sakura just shook her head as she gave him a light smile. She just settled her hand on Gaara's shoulders, who grew very tense under them. He was not used to someone touching him. "It's all right, Baki. I know what I'm doing." She told the guard before undoing the straps to Gaara's straight jacket. She didn't even look back at the red head as he turned his head around to look up her with suspicion and alarm.

He was no doubt confused of what she was trying to do. He just lowered his arms once they were freed, putting them on the table before him. He just watched as Sakura went back over to her chair and then dragged it across the room so that she sat next to Gaara.

"Okay. Gaara, I know in the beginning we started out bad. But we can fix this so we can work together. Now, like you said the other day, some trust. Well, I think it's time to establish our trust. So what do you say?" Sakura asked, holding her hand out towards the red head. Gaara just stared at her as if she was a two headed alien. This was something he was not used to at all. He was used to people being afraid of him, not trying to make friends with him. But this woman, Sakura Haruno, wasn't showing any fear of him. "What the fuck is your deal?!" He suddenly demanded, glaring at her. "Why the hell do you want to help me out so badly?!"

Sakura just merely shrugged, not phased that he was yelling at her. She just continued to smile at him as if there was no profanity between them at all. "I don't know. Call it my weakness to help people, I guess. I like helping people, Gaara. That's why I took this job. It's in my nature. So, let's finally play 20 questions. I will answer any one of your questions, as long as you answer mine." She told him.

"I don't want to play your games, cherry blossom." Gaara said dryly.

Sakura sighed but shook her head. "Gaara, I just want to get to know you. I want to help you, alright? I know you don't want help but sometimes even you need it. I read your personal file and I just want to talk about it a little." She told him. Gaara gave her a very dry look. He didn't seem too thrilled to hear about her reading his file. He knew very well what was said in it. "I don't want to talk about it." He growled his eyes narrowing a little. But then he shoved up his jacket sleeve and held something up through the opening. "But answer me this. Is this the one who marked you?" He asked, showing her what it was.

The pink haired doctor frowned as she looked at it before her eyes lit up. It was a picture of her and Sasuke, something she had had in her wallet. She took it quickly from him, looking at it before looking at him. "Where did….." then her face fell. "Nevermind. Don't answer that question. I already know where you got this. Why did you take this, Gaara?" She asked, frowning at him.

Gaara just smirked dryly at her before he tilted his head. "Have you ever heard that saying, _'You can get to know a woman just by the contents of her purse?'_ Well, it goes the same thing for wallets." He told her. Sakura stared at him for a moment before her eyes narrowed lazily as she gave a low laugh. "Oh, geez. Then if you sudden know all about me, why ask about him?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.

There was a pause as Gaara looked away, rather thoughtfully. It was like he was trying to think carefully of what to say. But then with one short nod, he looked right back into Sakura's eyes. "Well, for starters, you have a fitness membership card, so you obviously like to stay in shape, like most women. You also have a movie card, so you like movies. You have quite a few pictures of yourself with people, which I'm assuming they are your friends. Your wallet smells like strawberries and crème, as you do. So I'm assuming that is the flavor of your personal products. Also, in that picture, you are in the arms of this man, but you don't seem happy. The smile you have on your face is forced. Plus, I can see a shadow on your left cheek, which I'm not taking as just a shadow. I believe it is a bruise, which I also saw the first day we met. No matter how well you were trying to hide it." He told her.

Sakura stared at him, her eyes lit up in surprise and awe but then she shook herself out of her thoughts. She put the picture face down while reaching up and rubbing her nose. "Geez, I think you'd make a pretty good detective, you know that?" She then dropped her hand and looked away. "All right. Yes. A long time ago, we were dating. But we're not anymore because of several personal issues which I will not discuss with you." She said, giving him a warning look when he opened his mouth to say something. "My personal life has nothing to do with you, Gaara. So please don't even bother asking about it." She told him.

There was another pause before Gaara nodded and stood up, making her tense. "Very well. Until you do want to talk about it, I'm ready to go back to my cell." He told her before crossing his arms and looking directly at Baki. "I'm done here."

"Hey!" Protested Sakura.

But the red head wouldn't listen. He completely ignored her, looking rather defiant about the entire situation. So Baki had no choice but to take him back to his cell while Sakura grumpily went to her office to do some paper work.

It was rather late in the evening when Sakura finished with her paper work. She was very exhausted by the time she finished so she decided to head on home. However, as she walked towards the doors to leave, she was looking in her wallet for her ID when she found it missing. It wasn't even in her wallet. "What?" She asked now searching through her pockets before getting a very agitated look on her face. She couldn't find her ID. But there was only one place she could think of on where it might be. "Gaara, I'm so ready to beat you myself." She growled before heading back the way she came.

Sakura took the elevator down to the bottom floor and started heading straight for Gaara's Isolation cell. She was furious with him right now. How did she ever miss her ID card? And why in the hell did Gaara take it? She knew she needed it back.

As she walked on, an eerie wave of apprehension passed over her, making her slow her pace. She felt as if she was being followed or being watched. Slowing to a stop, she turned around and looked around behind her to see if anyone was there. But the halls were completely empty other than herself. Not even her patients were stirring in their cells. No, they were actually quiet. There was even a feeling of fear in the air. As if something wickedly un-natural was happening.

With a shrug, Sakura just turned back and walked on. She wanted to quickly get her ID card back from Gaara and get out of there. She knew it was foolish of her to come down to the bottom floor without an escort but she really did trust Gaara enough. So she hurried over to Gaara's cell and swiped her access card through the security lock when she heard footsteps in the hall. She turned with a jerk and looked around with wide eyes but saw no one. "Hello? Is someone there?" She called.

No answer.

Sakura frowned before tilting her head. "Dr. Orochimaru? Kabuto, is that you?" She called again.

Still no answer.

So with a sigh, she shook her head and turned back to Gaara's cell lock. She just frowned at it as if she could already Gaara just waiting in there with a smug grin on his face. "All right, Gaara. Sorry for disturbing you so late in the evening but I need my stupid ID card. So just be nice and give…..it….." She began to hesitate on pressing the button that would allow her to enter the cell. There was something wrong.

There was a warm breeze on the back of her neck, as if someone was breathing on her.

Growing very rigid, she slowly turned her head, noting that someone in deed was behind her. With a sharp gasp, she whirled around, only to be shoved against the wall and have a hand pressed against her mouth to keep her from screaming. She tried to, but the hand muffled her screams. So instead, she tried to struggle only to have a body press up against her, keeping her pinned to the wall. Her eyes grew wide when she saw who it was, and her heart nearly stopped from the fear.

It was Sasuke Uchiha.

Sakura felt as if her air had been knocked from her lungs. She couldn't believe her own eyes. He was here. In Suna City. But why?! Why was he here?! She felt herself starting to panic and it wasn't helping with him keeping her pinned to the wall with his hand over her mouth So she tried to pry his hand off.

"Don't!" Sasuke hissed at her as he grabbed her hand with his free one. He pinned it against the wall above her head while glaring into her eyes. "Now, you will listen to me right now and you won't say a god damn thing until I'm done, got that?" He didn't even wait for her to nod or shake her head. "I came all this way to work things out with you, Sakura. The least you could do is listen to me for once." He paused again, releasing her hand and starting to play with her pink hair. "Now, are you going to be good and keep your mouth shut?"

Terrified, Sakura nodded. So he removed his hand from her mouth. She took a deep breath before looking fearfully up into his dark eyes. "Sas-Sasuke, what are you doing here? Why are you here?" She asked nervously. Sasuke just shook his head as he continued to play with her hair. He kept an arm pressing against her chest to keep her against the wall. "I'm here for you, Sakura. I know we've had a rough time before but I am willing to work out this relationship. I will do anything to get you back." He told her.

"Sasuke," Sakura said slowly and carefully. She knew she had to be careful around him, not saying anything he might not like. It would only trigger his temper. "Let go of me right now. You are not suppose to be down here. It is way too dangerous. These Isolation cells are holding very dangerous and unstable patients." She told him.

Sasuke didn't look bothered by it at all. He looked a little annoyed that she was telling him what to do but he didn't seem to care that the Isolation cells held mental patients. "They don't bother me, Sakura. As long as they stay in their cells, they don't worry me." He then smiled rather secretively at them. "Hey, since I came all this way, why don't we….." He paused as he now began running his hands along Sakura's sides, down to her waist. "You know. Give them a little show. I'm sure that none of these crazy freaks ever get to see some action."

Truth be told, to feel his hands on her like this again felt rather good. There were tingles running through Sakura's body and she almost submitted right there. But the moment he said "crazy freaks" she snapped out of it and glared at him, even while he was now starting to pull up her skirt. So angrily, she shoved him back as hard as she could, making him stagger backwards away from her. "Sasuke! Stop it!" She hissed angrily and glared at him, while he glared right back. "I can not believe you! Is that why you came all the way out to Suna City?! So I would sleep with you again?! Is that all I ever was with you?! A bed toy?!" She shook her head as she put her fists on her waist. "No! It's not happening! This is why I left you, Sasuke! Did you not understand that?!" She asked angrily. She ignored the dark look she was getting from Sasuke. She was so angry with him to care about his anger. He hqad come to her place of sanctuary and was already moving on her. She wasn't having it. "Not to mention, I am so mad at you. No! I'm furious with you! I've seen Itachi, Sasuke!"

Sasuke stiffened at the name and his angry look turned into shock. "What?!" He demanded.

Sakura nodded, glaring at him. "Yes! I've told him about what you've done to me! I told him about all the pain you've put me through and how you've been treating me! And guess what?! He's pissed about it!" She then jabbed a finger at him. "And I also found out about Karin! You know? Your stripper girlfriend that you've been seeing behind my back!" She said angrily, nodding when his face darkened. "Yeah, I know about her. Shikamaru Nara's told me that you've been practically sleeping with her in the bar. And do you honestly think I'll forgive you for it?! Guess again! I'm done with it! I'm done with the pain! I'm here now! Right where I want to be, with the people I care about so much!" She told him angrily.

Sasuke was now the one who was beyond furious. Things were not going as he had planned. He had come to Suna City to get her back and it was blowing up in his face. He would be damned if he let her go now. "Sakura, you are going to come back with me to Konoha City. You are going to quit this stupid nuthouse and you're coming home with me." He said grabbing her wrist and now pulling her down the hall.

Sakura immediately planted her feet down and tried to pull away. "Sasuke! Let go of me! I'm not going anywhere with you! I am certainly not quitting my job here! I'm happy here! Can't you at least accept that?!" She told him angrily as she tried to pull back.

But Sasuke refused to let her go. He just gripped her wrist harder and began yanking her after him. Now, very angry, Sakura rose his hand up to her mouth and bit him as hard as she could.

"OW!!" Sasuke yelped as he released her.

Sakura had still been pulling at him when he let her go and hadn't expected him to let her go so suddenly. She gasped as she stumbled backward and hit the security lock to Gaara's cell. There was a low beep and the door opened slightly. But Sakura hadn't noticed. Her attention was on Sasuke. She knew she was in trouble now. She had never tried to fight back before. And the look on his face told her to run for it. "Sas-Sasuke! Leave me alone!" She begged as she cringed against the wall.

Sasuke only shook his head as he glared at her fiercely before starting to advance on her. "Oh, you are so going to pay for that." He growled.

Sakura gasped before she bolted down the hall. She knew she had to get away from him as fast as she could. She knew that he was going to beat her like he used to. Maybe even worst. She had seen lust in his eyes when he advanced on her. She needed to get to the Asylum guards right now. She heard Sasuke giving chase after her but she didn't look back at him. However, she didn't get very far when Sasuke caught her. He grabbed her from behind, making her gasp. And before she could scream for help, he slapped a hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming. She began clawing and scratching to free herself from his grip. Sasuke winced but threw her against the wall, pinning her there with his body. Sakura tried to struggle but he wouldn't let go of her.

Click.

Sakura flinched when she saw a knife appear near her head, her eyes wide with fear as she looked over her shoulder at it. Her entire body froze in fear as she looked at the silver blade near her head. "That's a girl." Sasuke hissed into her ear. "Now, if you don't want to be sliced up, I suggest you don't say or do anything. Make a noise and I will cut you. Got it?"

Terrified, Sakura nodded.

"Good." Sasuke said shifting the blade into is other hand before digging into his pocket for a bandana and kept her pinned with his own body. He put his knife into his belt before roughly forcing the bandana into her mouth and tying it behind her head. Sakura just kept quiet, with only a few whimpers as tears began rolling down her cheeks. She thought she saw movement down the hall and she tried to cry out to whoever was down the hall but Sasuke forced her to turn to face him. She looked up at him with pleading in her eyes. His arm kept her trapped against the wall while his other one fell out her view. She could hear a zipper go down, so she knew he was undoing his pants. She shook her head, begging him with her eyes. "Remember, Sakura. You are mine. You ever tell anyone about this, I will kill you. Do you understand?" he asked dangerously.

Sakura nodded with a choking sob rose up within her chest. She knew better than to disagree with him. She knew he would just beat her till she was nearly dead if she said no. Sasuke nodded as his hand ran to her inner thigh. "Good. Now, time for you punishment." He said, dryly before slamming his fist into her stomach. Sakura gasped for air as she doubled over. If that wasn't enough, he did it again. This time she felt something crack in her chest. She would have screamed if she had air to scream with. Again came another blow, only this time it was to her head, sending her to the ground. She landed on her arm, feeling something else crack in it.

A second later, Sasuke was on top of her, shoving her skirt up. She tried to fight him off but she just couldn't get him off of her. He trapped her arms above her head before she felt excrutiating pain as he thrust himself into her. She tried to scream but the bandana inside her mouth kept her from doing it. She closed her eyes tightly as she felt his pelvis slamming down onto hers. She wanted so much to just get him off of her, but he was too strong for her. 'I hate you, Sasuke! I am so going to make you pay for this!' She screamed in her mind.

"Son of a bitch!" Sasuke suddenly yelled before he was out of her.

Sakura's eyes flew open before they widened. She saw Sasuke staggering to his feet and trying to pull up his pants but that wasn't what had her stunned. There, right behind Sasuke, Gaara was standing there with an empty needle canister. He was looking something fierce with a very sinister grin on his face as he looked Sasuke right in the eye. He also had Sasuke's knife in his other hand, holding it tightly.

"Wh-who the he-hell are you?! What the he-hell did you just stab me with?!" Sasuke demanded as he clapped a hand over his neck where there was some blood. His vision was already starting to getting a little foggy from the sedatives. Gaara just dipped his head a little lower before grinning at him. "I'm the mental patient who's about to kick your ass for fucking around with his doctor. I'm sure you're not aware of this, but there are several nutcases who's depending on Dr. Haruno." He said in a dangerous tone before he lashed out and punched Sasuke in the stomach. The raven haired man doubled over. He only groaned as his now broken nose now bled freely. However, the red head wasn't completley done. Instead, he grabbed Sasuke by the hair before kneeing him in the face, knocking him right onto his back. Then he proceeded to kicking him, while laughing a little insanely.

"Ga...Gaara...st-stop it..." Sakura gasped as soon as she managed to pull the gag out of her mouth.

Gaara whirled around from Sasuke, glaring down at her. He didn't seem to like being told what to do by anyone, for any reason. But after staring down at her, watching her clutch her chest and whimpering in pain, he blew out a frustrated sigh and walked over. He bent down beside her, looking at her chest with a frown. "So what's wrong, _doctor_?" He asked in such a way it could only be taunting.

Sakura shot him a look before gasping in pain, gripping her sides. "God! I think he broke a rib!" She yelped, her breathing excruciating.

Gaara just frowned before he pulled her hand away from her side and touched her ribs. Sakura almost screamed in pain but her red haired patient covered her mouth, stopping her from doing so. He just looked at her side dully as if it was no big deal. "Yup. Broken rib. That's got to hurt like a bitch." He said, getting a very dry look from Sakura. But with a shrug, he slid his arms under her, lifting her up. Sakura squeaked in protest and alarm but wrapped her arms around his neck to keep herself from falling. "Wh-what are you doing?!" she gasped. Gaara didn't even bother looking at her. He just carried her down the hall, as if it was no big deal. Sakura felt her skin starting to burn as if she was on fire. She couldn't believe this was happening. She had just been attacked by her psychotic ex-boyfriend and her equally psychotic patient had just saved her. She felt so embarrassed. But, then again...her eyes flickering up to Gaara as he just carried her down the hall until he reached one of the medic rooms, she felt her cheeks flush even hotter. 'You know, he's actually really cute.' She found herself thinking. Then her eyes snapped wide open.'Oh no! No, no, no! Do not be thinking like that about a patient, Sakura Haruno!' She shouted at herself.

A second later, she felt herself being lowered onto one of the medical beds. Sakura blinked in surprise, not even realizing that they had even entered one of the medical rooms. She looked around and watched as Gaara flipped on the light before making his way over to a cuboard. "Um...Gaara, wh-what are you doing? Why did you come help me?" She asked as she quickly began fixing her skirt and pulling up her underwear, seeing that it was still down a little. She felt imbarrassed that he had seen her like that but he didn't even seem to notice.

Gaara didn't answer as he pulled things out of the cupboard and did something that Sakura couldn't see him doing. She saw him pull down some bandages, knowing that he was planning on wrapping her chest with them. She just frowned as she pushed herself up to a sitting position, only to wince as she felt a throbbing pain in her chest.

Hearing her groan, Gaara turned around and gave her a scowl for even moving before he walked towards her. He had something in his other hand but the pink haired woman couldn't tell what it was. Instead, he placed his hand on her shoulder and forced her to lie down again. "Keep down." He silently ordered her before smirking at him. "It's not every day a patient gets to play doctor."

Sakura found herself smiling when he said that. She couldn't help it. She seriously found her patient a little cute when he smirked like that and for that thought, she inwardly smacked herself. So instead, she looked right into his sea-foam eyes. "So…you didn't answer my question. Why did you help me?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.

Gaara didn't look at her for a long time but stared at the bandages in his hand. Then he finally looked her right into the eyes. "I have my own reasons." He simply said before he put down the items in his hand and placed a hand onto her ribs.

Sakura gasped in pain but forced herself not to scream. She felt as if she was going to die just by him touching her broke rib. "Name one." She gasped between her teeth.

There was a pause before Gaara pulled his hands away from her side. He hesitated for a moment before grabbing the hem of her shirt, making her jump. Again he met her eyes with his. "Easy. I have to see what I'm doing." He told her and when she relaxed, he pulled her shirt up until her bra line before looking at her sides again. "The only reason I'll give you is that I don't like hurting women. There has been a few times I have but that's because I lost control of him." He shook his head as he ran his fingers along her rib cage before finding the broken rib. "There's just something about you that keeps me stable. I don't hear him as much as I usually do when you're around."

Sakura had gasped again from pain but then looked up at him with confusion. "Him?" She asked. "Who's him?"

Gaara was quiet for a little while longer before he picked up the needle. He looked at Sakura when she grew very tense when she saw it. "It's morphine. It's just for the pain." He tried to reassure her. Then when she nodded, he poked the needle right into her arm, hitting the vein. "And I mean him…..Shukaku." He said before he looked her right in the eye.

It was right at that second, Sakura felt extremely drowsy. It hit her immediately that Gaara had not used morphine on her but a sedative. She flinched a little as she tried to fight it but then she was out like a light.

The moment she fell asleep, Gaara put down the needle then looked right at her face. He watched her sleep for a moment before reaching out and brushing some of her pink bangs out of her face. He didn't exactly understand it. What was it about Sakura Haruno that made him feel so relaxed? He never felt like that around anyone. Not even his siblings and he knew they would do nothing to hurt him. All he knew was that before she even stepped into his life, all he thought about was killing everyone who came near him. He had spent hours lying on his bed, just thinking of how many ways he could kill a person. He dreamed about blood and gore. He wanted to bathe in it.

But now……then Sakura Haruno stepped into his life, invading his morbid thoughts.

Since that day in the interrogation room, the first time he met her, he had been thinking about her. He saw her in his dreams, smelled her scent all of the time. He even heard her voice while he slept.

So what was it about her that made him think about her all of the time? Yes, even he had to admit, she was beautiful. Any man had to be a fool not to think she was. She was so gorgeous, she smelled so good. She was very desirable. There was that one time in the white room, just days ago, he wanted to reach over and bite her, not hard but just hard enough to see if she taste as good as she smelled. He even wanted to taste her now.

But for now, he needed to wrap up her chest.

Glancing down at her shirt, he made a face at the thought of what he needed to do. There were two reasons why he sedated her. The first reason was because there would be too much pain for Sakura. And the second……there was no way in hell she would have done it willingly. He knew that the shirt needed to be removed so that he could wrap up her ribs. 'If Temari and Kankuro ever heard about this, they'd never let it go.' He thought to himself before he began unbuttoning Sakura's shirt and removing it. "This is going to be a very long night." He muttered dryly.


	7. Chapter 7

Title: The Devil's Whisper

Short Summary:  
Sakura is a Psychiatrist for a mental hospital for the Konoha Hospital who then gets moved to her dream job in the Suna Hospital for the Criminally Insane to take care of a very dangerous patient named Gaara. WARNING! Sasuke bashing!!

Pairings:  
Sakura/Sasuke, Sakura/Gaara

Warning: Story contains implied and/ or scenes of: major language, torture, rape, angst, adult scenes, violence and probably more…

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of its characters. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

**Chapter VII**

Light shone on Sakura's face as she stirred from her strange dreamless sleep and she felt her head somewhat throbbing from drowsiness. She felt as if she had just woken up from a fever induced sleep, and her throat was very dry, as well as her tongue. She felt as if she had slept the entire night with her mouth wide open and her tongue dried. She probably had. Sakura opened her eyes, wincing a little when she saw how white the room was but then realized something a little more.

She had no idea where she was.

Sakura felt a sharp gasp rise within her as she opened her eyes wider and looked around the room she was in. She was lying on a medical bed with soft bed covers over here and her head was on a soft pillow. She was in some kind of hospital bed.

It took her a moment but then she remembered the events of the night before. She remembered she had been attacked by Sasuke in the Isolation block and what he had done to her. She felt sick to her stomach when she remembered the very details of the attack. He had raped her. He had actually raped her in the halls of the Isolation block. She covered her mouth as felt the bile in her throat. She remembered seeing that insane look in his eyes as he pinned her to wall before hurting her in the most possible worst way.

Not being able to help it now, Sakura sprang out of her bed over to the hospital toilette and hurled into the bowl. She felt her ribs burning as she threw up but she completely ignored it. She felt tears in her eyes as she kept on gagging on the vile liquid until she had nothing left.

"Oh, dear!"

Sakura weakly looked over her shoulder wiping her mouth with one hand only to see a nurse that she knew at the Suna Asylum. So she must have still been at the hospital. The nurse hurried over to her side and bent down beside her. "Oh! Dr. Haruno, are you all right?!" She asked with worry. The pink haired doctor just nodded as she flushed the toilette and then stood up to the sink. She winced as her ribs ached really bad but she paid it no mind. "I'm fine…..am I still at the Suna Asylum?"

"Yes, ma-am. Ms Chiyo didn't want to have you removed from here after what happened last night." The nurse told her as she stayed by Sakura's side as she washed her hands and then her mouth out. Then she helped her back to the bed. Sakura just slowly nodded as she laid back down then looked down at herself. She was wearing gray sweat pants and white tee shirt. So someone had changed her clothes. But who? But instead of asking the nurse that, she looked at her and frowned. "What happened? How long have I been here?" She asked. The nurse only shook her head as she tried to pull the covers back over her. "Oh you don't remember?" She only received a blank look from Sakura. "Well, late last night, the security guards found you on the Isolation floor, in a medical room. You were being attacked by that brute, Gaara Sabaku. The guards reported that Sabaku beat you really bad then raped you." She said with sympathy.

The pink haired woman froze when she heard that, her eyes snapping wide open. She felt her jaw nearly hit her chest as she looked at the nurse in disbelief. "What?!" she gasped. "What did you say?"

The nurse sighed as she looked at her with the same sympathy and shook her head. "Yes. I know. Gaara Sabaku, that brute! He savagely raped you. I didn't know he would so something like that. He's never done it before. Usually he just savagely attacks people. But to rape a girl? I would have never guessed. Well, I can sort of see why he did it to you. You are such a pretty thing. But still….."

While the nurse was rambling, Sakura thought quickly about what she just said. She remembered that when Sasuke raped her, Gaara had actually came to her defense. She couldn't believe, or wouldn't believe, that he had actually done it to her. She remembered that he stuck her with sedatives but she was so sure that he had not even done anything like raping her. There was no way he would. She was so sure of it.

"…..anyway, from what I've heard, Ms. Chiyo is going to have him severely punished for his actions. She's discussing his departure from the Asylum, to be put into the Suna Prison instead. He deserves it, that monst…." The nurse finally said.

Sakura snapped out of her thoughts when she heard that and looked at the nurse with wide eyes. Her heart nearly slammed against her chest as it began to race. She shook her head rather violently. "No!" She gasped, startling the nurse. She knew that Gaara must have gotten caught with her last night, probably helping her. It didn't make any sense that the guards had caught him hurting her but she wouldn't believe it. She knew that she had to speak to Chiyo before they sent him off to prison. Sakura shook her head at that thought as she shoved her blankets off of her and she climbed out of the bed. "Where are my clothes?!" She asked quickly.

The nurse shook her head as she immediately hurried forward and placed her hands onto her shoulders. "Dr. Haruno! You must not get up! You need rest!" She protested.

Sakura only shook her head as she decided to ignore her clothes. She would just have to go in these ones instead. She quickly hurried over to the door with a protesting nurse behind her. Her sides burned from pain but she chose to ignore them. She just needed to get to Chiyo's office. "What floor am I on?!" She demanded.

"Dr. Haruno! I must protest! You have a broken rib and two cracked ones! You should be resting and not moving around!" The nurse said as she quickly followed after Sakura as she went down the hall.

Of course, Sakura ignored her. She just kept hurrying down the hall until she spotted a sign, saying that she was on the second floor. So she was just one floor down from reaching Chiyo. So she picked up her pace to get over to the elevators, much to her ribs' protest. She felt the nurse attempt to grab onto her shoulders to steer her back the way she came but she pulled away and gave her a very fierce glare that definitely made the nurse back away. "Look, you! I have got to speak to Ms. Chiyo about Gaara Sabaku! And do not even think about going around telling everyone that he hurt me because he didn't! He did just the opposite! He saved me!" The annoyed pink haired girl said sharply before she turned hurried down the hall.

However as she went, her sides started burning like they were on fire. She was starting to really get short of her breath and she had to stop for a moment to catch her breath. She was very aware that the nurse was still there. But she was now not alone. There was a security guard with her. "Dr. Haruno," He said moving forward. "You need to come with me back to your room now. You need rest."

Sakura pulled away from him, frowning sternly at him. She did not want to go back to her room. She just wanted to go up and talk to Chiyo and tell her what really happened the night before. If she didn't, Gaara would be in a whole lot of trouble. "No! I need to see Chiyo right now! I don't need rest! I just need to speak to her!" She said sharply. The guard drew back in surprise, as if she had brandished a whip at him.

"Sakura?"

Sakura whirled around when she heard his voice from behind her, only to see a curious looking Itachi coming out of his room. He must have heard her yelling at the guard and the nurse and decided to see what was going on. "Itachi!" Sakura yelped before hurrying over to him, wincing from her side. She saw him frown in confusion when she winced but she shook her head as grabbed his arm. "Itachi! You have to help me get upstairs! I have to speak to Chiyo Redsand! Everyone thinks that it was Gaara Sabaku who attacked me last night! But it wasn't! It was Sasuke! He's the one who attacked me!"

As expected, Itachi's eyes widened in alarm and anger before he looked directly into her eyes. "He did what?!" He asked, his voice raising a little. He did not sound happy at all, not that Sakura could blame him.

Sakura only nodded as she gripped onto his arm, giving him a pleading look. "Sasuke came to the hospital and attacked me, Itachi. He…he raped me. But Gaara Sabaku saved me. Now everyone thinks he's the one who hurt me. I have to help him before they send him away from here. Please, Itachi. Can you please help me upstairs?" She begged.

There was a brief silence as Itachi looked her right in the eye before he nodded. He wrapped an arm around her waist, being careful not to hurt her and started to lead her towards the elevator. However, the guard and the nurse were blocking their way, looking very hesitant. The guard's hand was on his sedative gun but he was somewhat nervous about facing a patient. Itachi's eyes narrowed warningly as he tightened his grip around Sakura. "Get out of our way." He said darkly. The guard and the nurse cringed back a little but then slowly did as they were told. They knew about Itachi's reputation in the hospital. True, he hardly did anything to anyone there. But it didn't mean he didn't do any threatening. When he got angry, it was pretty creepy. Satisfied, Itachi lead Sakura right into the elevator, while letting her lean against him for support. She silently explained that Sasuke had broken a rib by punching her so hard in the chest and that seemed only to anger the black haired man even more. He had such an angry look on his face it almost scared Sakura a little. She hadn't really seen him angry before but it was kind of scary.

Finally, they reached the door to Chiyo's office, ignoring looks they got from security guards and doctors. Sakura rapped on Chiyo's door before she barged in with Itachi's help. She saw several heads jerk around but her eyes were only on the old woman sitting at her desk. She caught sight of Temari and Kankuro in the room, both looking flustered. So obviously they had been arguing Gaara's case, which was expected. Madara Uchiha was also there, as well as a doctor that Sakura had yet to speak to but knew from a distance. His name was Sasori and he wasn't exactly the nicest person in the hospital, even though he had such an angelic look about him. Baki was also there, looking very unhappy in deed. And neither were two ANBU.

"Ms Chiyo! Don't send Gaara to prison! He didn't do it!" Sakura practically exclaimed.

Everyone stared at her in alarm. They had just been in the middle of arguing with the Sabaku siblings, talking about how they should send Gaara from the Asylum for what he had done but, of course, Temari and Kankuro were putting up a fight about it. But then all of a sudden, Sakura and one of her patients, Itachi entered the office. This was too unsettling as it was. Chiyo frowned before standing up. "Miss Haruno, you should be in bed resting." She said.

Sakura just shook her head as she frowned seriously, moving forward but groaning when her ribs ached. She probably would have hit the ground if Itachi hadn't been holding onto her. "Careful, little sis." He murmured, using his usual title for her. She just gave him a quick smile before looking serious again. "Forgive me, Chiyo, but I can't be lying around in a bed while my patient is about to be punished for a crime he did not commit." She said sternly.

"Sakura, we have two guards saying that they found Gaara sexually assaulting you last night. You were under the influence of sedatives and he had removed you of your shirt. So please do tell me, how is that not proof of what he's done to you." Chiyo said just as sternly.

There was a sigh of frustration from Temari as she rolled her eyes and she shifted her weight. "Ms Chiyo! I already told you! Gaara might be mentally unstable but he would never, ever do that to any woman! I don't care what those stupid guards said! They are lying! I know it didn't exactly help with Gaara stabbing them with a scalpel but he wouldn't touch any woman in that kind of way! He's crazy but he's not dishonorable!" She said angrily. Sakura nodded in agreement. "Gaara didn't hurt me that way, Chiyo! As a matter of fact, it was he saved my life! It was my ex-boyfriend, Sasuke Uchiha who attacked me! Surely the guards found him in the hall! He was out cold on the floor from the sedative that Gaara used on him!" She told him.

There was a very unsettling silence as everyone stared at her. No one spoke for a moment before Baki shook his head slowly. "Miss Haruno…..there was no sign of anyone else on the Isolation floor. It was just you, Gaara and all of the other patients, but they were no others down there." He stated.

Sakura's mouth fell open in shock but she slowly shook her head. "Baki….he was there. I swear it."

"Well, he wasn't when the guards went down and found Gaara feeling you up. Or so that's what they said." Kankuro said bitterly as he gave Baki a sour look. "They said it was Gaara who was riding the crap out of you." Then he got slapped over the head by Temari when Sakura had a very painful look on her face. "Ow.

Sakura was quiet for a moment before she shook her head and looked seriously at Chiyo. She knew that Sasuke had been there last night. She wasn't sure where he had gone but he had been sedated. So someone must have removed him. "He was there, Ms. Chiyo. He attacked me and then raped me. But Gaara Sabaku came to my defense." She saw that no one exactly believed her so she took a deep breath and looked as stern as she could. "I want to speak to these guards then. Would it be possible that I talked to them personally about what they saw?" She asked, frowning.

There was a pause before Chiyo nodded once. "Yes. I suppose that's possible. They are still here at the hospital, if I'm not mistaken." She turned to Baki and nodded to him. "Baki, go find the guards and bring them here right away. I think I want to hear their story, myself. And find out of Shikamaru Nara found those missing security tapes yet." She told him.

"Yes, ma-am." Baki said before he turned and walked right out of the room, pausing to glance at Itachi. He looked somewhat hesitant about leaving them in the room with a patient. Itachi glanced right back at him but then tightened his hold on Sakura, as if showing the guard that he was only there to support Sakura. With a faint smile, the guard nodded before leaving. Sakura, on the other hand, winced at her ribs before clutching at her side in pain. Of course, everyone noticed and Sasori was standing up when Chiyo motioned to her to sit down. "Sit down, Miss Haruno. You must be in pain from your wound." She stated.

Sakura shrugged. "Sort of." She said before starting forward only to pause when Itachi went with her, helping her to the chair. She felt her lips curving upward a little in gratitude. She was just so glad to have a friend like Itachi, unlike his fucking brother. Madara tilted his head in wonder as he watched his nephew before smiling. "You know, I'm not surprised to see you helping Sakura, Itachi." He said, making everyone look at the raven haired patient. "You two do seem pretty close."

Itachi's face darkened a little but he shook his head. "Sakura was an old friend of mine while dating my damn younger brother. I'm ashamed of him for doing this to her. He's lucky I don't leave here, looking for him to beat the living hell out of him." He said dryly.

No one replied to that.

Madara, however, just looked at Sakura, frowning a little. "Miss Haruno, I am curious though. Exactly….how did Gaara get out of his cell in the first place and why were you down there?" He asked curiously.

Sakura made a face as she sat down in Sasori's abandoned chair before shaking her head as she looked away. "My ID card went missing and I thought that Gaara might have had it. He had my wallet a few days ago and I had Baki take me down there to get it. But my ID wasn't in there and I realized that last night. So I thought he might have had it, trying to get at me. So I went down to get it." She told them.

"Miss Haruno, why did you go down there by yourself? You know very well how dangerous Gaara Sabaku is!" Chiyo scowled.

Sakura shook her head again as she forced a smile. "To be honest, Miss Chiyo, I trust Gaara not to do anything to me. He's already had plenty of chances of hurting me but he doesn't take them. I think he's curious to know why I'm trying to help him. Maybe it's one of those mind games that you've told me about, Miss Chiyo. But I've never actually felt the need to be afraid of him other than the first time we met." She shook her head again. "Anyway, I opened up his cell but didn't enter it because of Sasuke. He must have opened it himself and came to my defense." She told the old woman. She spied a very curious look on Temari and Kankuro's faces as they shared a look but it was clear that they were thinking the same thing. Now if only Sakura was a mind reader, she would have known that they were both impressed with her and Gaara.

Soon enough, Baki returned with two guards, who really did look very beat up. They were both in possession of a crutch while there were bandages around their legs as well as cuts and bruises everywhere on their faces. So obviously, Gaara had put up a fight when they 'rescued' her. However, when they spotted Sakura, their lips curled upward a little, almost like they were smirking about something. It didn't take a genius to tell the pink haired woman that they were thinking rather inappropriately about her. Especially with their eyes traveling her body over. She narrowed her eyes at the men but she wasn't the only one. The Sabaku siblings and Itachi had seen it too.

"Here are the guards from last night's patrol, Ms. Chiyo." Baki stated as he lead the two in, who immediately looked away from Sakura. "Gentlemen, explain to everyone what you saw last night and don't leave out any details." He ordered to his men.

The two guards glanced at one another before the first nodded and stepped forward. "All right, sir. Last night, around 12: 20 in the morning, I saw the emergency light go off for Sabaku's Isolation cell, saying that someone had pressed the emergency call button. So I went off to see what was going on and Ryu here came with me as back up." He shook his head as tried to look very professional about it. "Anyway, went down to the bottom floor and found Sabaku's cell open then we went off to see if we could find out where he went. We found him in one of the Medical rooms, feeling this lady up. She was completely out and she looked rather beat up. We told him to back off but he wouldn't. He came at us with a scalpel and so we had no choice but to fight with him."

Narrowing her eyes, Sakura eyed the two guards suspiciously. Something wasn't right about these two. They were hiding something. She could feel it. They hadn't even said anything about catching Gaara raping her. "So you didn't see him rape me?" She asked seriously.

The second guard shook his head. "Not in particularly. He had his hand stuffed down your underwear, ma-am. He could have raped you before we even went down there." He added to the first guard's story.

"If Gaara in deed raped Sakura, why would she even be wearing her underwear?" Itachi asked, dangerously. He didn't like even hearing about this but he was also suspicious about their story. Something they weren't saying. The guards gave him a look of dislike. They obviously knew that he was a patient. "I don't know. But what the hell are you doing up here in the first place, nutcase? Shouldn't you be trying to commit suicide again?" The second guard asked with annoyance.

Sakura blinked in surprise as she looked at Itachi when his face darkened but then she chose to ask him about it later. She just gave the guards a look of warning. "Itachi is here as my support. It was his brother who attacked me and raped me. Gaara Sabaku saved my life. Wasn't there someone there someone in the hall when you came in? There should have been someone there."

The guards frowned as they looked at one another with a pause before they shook their heads at her. "No, ma-am. There wasn't anyone there. And it was Gaara Sabaku who raped you, ma-am. We saw what we saw. He's a fucking monster. He raped an innocent, defenseless chick."

Sakura's eyes flashed with rage and her fists immediately balled up tightly until her knuckles were white. 'CHICK?!' She thought angrily.

'**Cha!! Kill them!!' **Inner Sakura screamed within her head.

But before Sakura could reply, or anyone else speak up to stop a fight from breaking out, the door opened and Shikamaru slipped into the room with two tapes in his hands. Everyone's eyes flickered over to him as he walked in. He, on the other hand, glanced over at the two guards before his eyes hardened at the very sight of them. He did not seem to like these two at all. But instead of saying anything to them, he turned to Baki and held up the tapes. "Baki, sir. I found the missing security tapes you asked me to find." He shot the guards a dark look. "Oddly, they were in a trash can that some Janitor was taking out."

Sakura frowned as she glanced over at the guards, who both grew a little pale and looked nervously at each other. Her eyes narrowed on them as she realized that they were probably responsible for the missing tapes. A few eyes also narrowed on the guards, who returned to looking passive.

Baki, however, also narrowed his eyes at the guards before he looked at a television and VCR Chiyo had in her office. "Ms. Chiyo, maybe we should take a look at these." He told her.

Chiyo was eyeing the guards rather sternly and knowingly but she nodded. She paused to glance over at Sakura. "Miss Haruno, if these tapes have anything to deal with what happened to you last night, it might be rather disturbing for you. Are you sure you will want to see them?" She asked.

Sakura shook her head as she took a deep breath. She eyed the tapes with uneasiness but she knew she had to see them. She had to know what happened that night when she went under the sedatives. "No. I would like to see them too. I trust Gaara not to have done anything to me. I know he didn't. But still….." She cut herself off.

Baki just nodded before he went over to the TV and slid the tape into the VCR and then pushed play. He glanced over at Shikamaru who leaned against the desk that the machines were on while giving the two guards a look of warning.

At first, the tapes showed just a dark room but a second later they saw movement. The lights flipped on and revealed Gaara and Sakura in the room. Sakura, however, was conscious. She was watching Gaara as he went over to one of the medical cupboards. He began pulling things out; the bandages and the sedative. Sakura was talking to him but he didn't turn around until she tried to sit up. He gave her a very stern look before going over and made her lay back down. Whatever he said made Sakura smile and shake her head at him. She said something that made him look down but didn't answer for a moment. He then said something as began running his hands over Sakura's side, checking for the broken ribs. There was no sound though.

"Wait a moment." Chiyo said and Shikamaru hit pause to look at her. All eyes turned to her when she frowned. "Is there no sound to this?"

Shikamaru shook his head at her question, one arm folded over his chest. "No, ma-am. The camera system we have has no audio functions due to that the patients scream a lot at night. But you don't have to worry too much about what their saying. I can read lips. They are only having a friendly conversation." He told her before hitting play when she nodded. It was at this moment then Gaara injected Sakura with the sedative. Everyone grew tense but Sakura quickly shook her head as she watched them. "It's all right. I think he only injected me with it so that I wouldn't feel any pain." She told them. They didn't relax though.

On the screen, they watched as Gaara just stood there, watching Sakura sleep. But after a moment, he was brushing some of her hair out of her face. Seeing that made Sakura blush as she watched him. He was just staring at her for the longest time before he began to undo her shirt. Sakura grew very tense when she saw him doing that. Her face felt like it was on fire. Especially when he had her shirt off and he just stared. It didn't take a genius to tell what he was staring at. She glanced at everyone else to see that Shikamaru had looked away, just to be respectful to her. The other men didn't look phased. They didn't even look like they were enjoying it. They were just serious. So she knew that they were taking this very seriously. Kankuro, however, grinned adn winked at her when he noticed her looking at him. Again, she blushed hot red only to get slapped over the head by Temari. Then they watched as Gaara began to wrap the bandages around Sakura's chest.

"You guys might want to stay for this." Shikamaru suddenly said as he pointed at the guards, who were now scooting towards the door. So obviously they knew what was about to happen. The genius just looked rather amused that they were trying to escape, while everyone else didn't. "It's about to get interesting." Shikamaru said.

The guards again looked uneasy but shook their heads. "Ah…that's okay. We, ah, need to get home. My wife….." The first was saying.

However, Baki gave them a very dry look before pointing to over to a bench on the other side of the room. "Sit down. You two aren't going anywhere until we've seen what's on this tape." He warned them. The guards winced but did as they were told.

On the tape, Gaara was still wrapping the bandages around Sakura's chest when his head jerked upward as if he heard something. He just stood there, staring towards the door when the two guards entered the room, both with raised sedative guns trained on him. He just stood right there, watching the guards as they approached, but then he backed up a few steps away from the table when the first guard ordered him to. Guard 1 moved closer to Sakura, still watching Gaara before looking down at her and trying to shake her awake with his hand on her bare shoulder. He shook her a few times before shaking his head. Then he began smirking as if he found something funny then said something over to Guard 2, who laughed as if they found something funny.

Whatever was said, it was obvious that Gaara didn't like it because his face twisted in anger as he watched the guards. But when Guard 1 moved his hand a little towards Sakura's breasts, he jumped forward and shoved the guard hard away from him before grabbing her shirt and covering her with it.

That was when the fight broke out.

Both guards rushed Gaara, one slamming into him and knocking him against the wall. The first however, was glaring at the red head before he got a very nasty smile on his face before turning towards Sakura and placed his hand on her thigh.

Seeing this, Sakura's eyes snapped wide open and she turned to two blushing guards, who looked very shamed. She wasn't the only one glaring at the two. Almost everyone was, though Sasori didn't look like he cared either way. Itachi looked ready to jump at the guards and killing them. However, Shikamaru shook his head as he held up a hand. "Just wait. That's not the best part." He said, dryly as he nodded to the tape. Everyone looked back at the tapes to see Gaara now pounding the hell out of the second guard before he stabbed him in the leg with a scalpel then lunged at the first guard, slashing him the leg with it. The guard fell back away from him against the wall, while the red head glared at him while placing an arm over Sakura's body, as if he was protecting her. The two guards stood up before jumping at him, which he really put up a fight. That is until more guards arrived, one shooting Gaara with a sedative gun.

And it was there that Shikamaru stopped the tape and took it out. He then took the second and placed it in, while looking at the two guards with such seriousness now. "Now, here's the best part. This one is going to tell us exactly how the hell Sasuke Uchiha got in here in the first place." He stated. Sakura's eyes widened before she looked at the guards, who winced.

The security video showed the front gates, and judging by the time in the corner of the screen, it was somewhere near the time that Sasuke attacked Sakura. The two guards were stationed at the door way near the parking lot, both just sitting there or watching the screens. It was like that for a few moments before the door opened and in walked Sasuke. Sakura felt her hand slap over her mouth as if she was going to be sick again but she watched as Sasuke talked to the guards.

At first, the guards were shaking their heads at him when he started talking to them. He was showing them something in his hand and by the looks of it, it was a card. The guards still shook their heads but then stopped when Sasuke went for his wallet, pulling out several bills and holding them up to the guards.

To Sakura's horror, the two guards took the money and waved him through. He had bribed them to let him in and they let him.

"Enough." Sakura said now standing up painfully. She winced when her ribs started to ache, but Itachi was there to help her. He pulled her into his arms, while she rest her head against his shoulder. "I've seen enough."

Shikamaru stopped the tape while Baki folded his arms and gave the two guards the most nasty look he could muster. He was no doubt very pissed off at these two. Even Temari and Kankuro looked like they were about to murder these two. "You two," Baki began, though his voice was very dangerous. "Not only are you two fired, you will be charged for sexual harassment, assistance in a rape, and tampering with evidence. Now where the hell is Sasuke Uchiha? Did you remove him from the scene of the crime too?" He asked, darkly.

The two guards shook their heads as they lowered them. The first ran his fingers through his brown hair as he kept his eyes down. "No, sir. He wasn't down there when we came in. And this is the truth this time. When that man came in, he said he just wanted to give his girlfriend her ID card, that she had forgotten it at their apartment. He even showed it to us. It belonged to her." He pointed at a stunned Sakura, who was clutching onto Itachi while covering her mouth with her hand. "We refused to let him through at first. But then he pulled out a bunch of hundreds. He said he'd give them to us if he just let us go see his girlfriend. He gave us extra for our silence." He then looked at Baki with wide eyes. "But I swear! Neither one knew that he was going to attack her! He said he just wanted to talk to her and take her home! He never said anything about attacking her!"

The second guard nodded as he stood up with the first. "We had no clue! And I swear, we don't know where he's at either. We looked everywhere but he wasn't, or isn't here." He insisted.

Baki took a deep breath before looking at the ANBU officer. "Captain, there's a possibility that we have an unwanted visitor in the hospital." He glanced over at Chiyo. "We will begin searching the Asylum immediately." He said. Chiyo nodded as she looked at Shikamaru. "Thank you, Mr. Nara, for finding those tapes. Please assist Baki in searching the hospital for Sasuke Uchiha. If he's still here, you know who he is, do you not?"

"Yes, ma-am. I know that bastard." Shikamaru said rather dryly. "It'll be a drag trying to find him but I think I'll have a little fun kicking his ass."

Chiyo only nodded as she looked back at Baki. "The Asylum is now under Code 3. All patients will need to be in their rooms, which will also be searched. Sasori," She said, now looking at the red haired doctor. "If you don't mind, I would like you and Madara to help look down in the Isolation Floor. Ask Dr. Orochimaru and Kabuto….oh, that's right. You and Orochimaru don't get along." She stated when Sasori's eyes narrowed as he drew back a little. "Very well, Madara, will you please talk to Orochimaru and Kabuto?"

Madara nodded as he already moved towards the door with everyone else. He paused to glance over at Sakura with concern before sighing. "Miss Haruno, I am so sorry for what my nephew has done to you. Even after I told you that if he came here looking for trouble that I would deal with him. I should have known that he was going to cause trouble. I knew he was in Suna City but I should have told him to go away. I am so sorry." He said, sounding very sorry in deed.

Sakura just gave him a faint smile but shook her head. "It's not your fault, Mr. Uchiha. But thank you." She said quietly.

Madara nodded before he left with everyone. Soon it was just Sakura, Chiyo, Itachi and the Sabaku siblings. Temari went over to the pink haired woman's side and gently placed a hand onto her shoulder, giving her the faintest of smiles before looking at Chiyo. "Ms Chiyo, what about my brother?" She asked, seriously once again.

"Gaara will not be sent away after uncovering the truth." Chiyo stated. "It seems to me that what he's done is just added a positive mark on his file. He has never done anything like this before so it's clear that he seems to like his new doctor. Otherwise, she would probably in a even worst state. So therefore, Gaara is reprieved." She paused as she looked at Sakura when she looked somewhat happy to hear this. "You know, Sakura, I'm very surprised that he stood up for you. It seems to me that you're doing more than just gaining his trust."

Sakura looked at her with surprise and confusion. She wasn't sure what the old woman meant by that. She saw both Temari and Kankuro smirking at one another as if they figured it out and even saw Itachi smirking. "Huh? What? What….what do you mean by that?" She asked, frowning.

"Never mind. Why don't you go home and get some rest? After last night, you're going to need at least a week or two to heal." Chiyo said with a little concern. Sakura blinked a few times before her eyes grew wide and shook her head. "Oh! No, no! I'll be fine! I can't…..!" She was saying.

Chiyo held up a hand to her and shook her head. "Sakura, you have a broken rib and two cracked ones. You need to be resting, not working. Now, I know you're worried about your patients, but I will assure you, they will be fine. I promise that we will take care of them as well as you do. I will personally make sure Tobi has an orange every day to make him happy." She said, chuckling. Sakura cracked a smile but then winced as her side throbbed in pain. "But…what about Deidara? What if he….."

"Sakura, Deidara is happy as a loon no matter what you do." Itachi remarked with a chuckle. "I'll think he'll be fine."

There was a pause before Sakura slowly nodded with a sigh but then she looked at Chiyo frowning. "Before I go home, I would like to see Gaara first. I have to thank him for what he's done for me." She told her. The old woman only nodded as she folded her hands together. She was smiling to herself about something but she didn't bother to voice her thoughts. "I think that will be fine. He's back in his Isolation room. He might need a nurse that he trusts though. I'm afraid the guards weren't too gentle with him." She told her. Sakura's eyes widened before she tried to bolt for the door but Itachi held her back. "Hey, hey. Slow it down before you hurt yourself more." He said, now helping her to the door. Temari and Kankuro both laughed as they went with them. Chiyo however, held up a hand. "Oh, one more thing!" She called after them, making everyone turn around. The old woman was looking at Itachi though. "While you are here, Itachi, I have decided to dispatch you. It's clear to me that you do not need to be here at the Asylum. I will sign the papers for your release."

"What?" Itachi said quietly. "But my uncle….."

Chiyo shook her head as she rose an eyebrow. "Your Uncle Madara is my employee, Itachi. I am his boss. I don't care if he thinks you need to be here. You are not mentally ill. You never have been. I know that Madara brought you here to keep you from prison for what you've done to your family and I will not pry with why you did it. But you do not belong here. Now, I will state that you can do community service to keep you from jail but you've had enough here." She paused to look at Sakura. "Why don't you stay with Sakura for a little while and help her out?"

Itachi paused to looked at Sakura, who shrugged. "It'll be alright with me until you can get settled, Itachi. Besides," She made a face. "I don't think I want to be alone until I know that Sasuke's been taken care of or he went back to Konoha." She told him. Itachi nodded before giving Chiyo a bow of his head. "Thank you for your help then, Ms. Chiyo." And with that, he went with Sakura and the Sabaku siblings to visit with Gaara.

Together, the four went down to the Isolation floor after Sakura had been given back her clothes, which had been washed for her. She changed back into them and then went down with Itachi, Temari and Kankuro to see Gaara. They had seen several guards checking rooms as they went but they completely ignored the four. When they finally reached Gaara's cell, there was a guard stationed there. At first he wouldn't let them in. But then Shikamaru happened to be passing by and stated that they were given permission by Ms Chiyo, after receiving the message from Baki. Then he was off again.

The door opened and Sakura walked in, looking around before finding Gaara lying on his bed with a rag pressed against his face. He looked up when she entered though and that was when Sakura froze. "Oh my god!" She yelped making Temari and Kankuro peer into the room before they too froze.

Gaara's face was a little bruised from getting beaten up by the guards and he had a bloody nose, but he seemed alright. "Temari or Kankuro, can you rush down the hall to one of the medical rooms and get some antiseptic as well as a box of bandaids?" Sakura asked as she hurried forward and bent down beside him, while he drew away, looking very annoyed. Kankuro was the one who went though.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Gaara asked dryly, while looking at the pink haired woman. Sakura rose an eyebrow as she reached over to take the bloody rag from him. She paused when he reached up and swatted her hand away. "I don't need your help."

But then Sakura frowned at him before she slapped his hand for smacking hers. She didn't hit him hard but it was enough to startle him. Even Temari froze in alarm of what the pink haired doctor did. Sakura ignored them both as she grabbed the rag from his hand and tossed it down. She just looked him over before shaking her head. "Just keep your head back for a moment. It doesn't seem to be bleeding anymore." She then looked into his wide eyes. "Oh, for pete's sake, Gaara. You really think I'm going to let you just lay there like that?! I'm your doctor! It's my job to take care of you when you're hurt! So stop scowling at me like that!" She said sharply when his eyes narrowed at her, and as she told him, he stopped.

At this time, Temari was laughing so hard that she received a glare from her younger brother. She doubled over, holding her sides while Itachi was shaking his head with a smirk on his face. Then Kankuro came back with the bottle of antiseptic and clean rags. He handed them to Sakura who immediately took them and set to work in cleaning Gaara up, who just watched her dryly.

Sakura just dabbed some antisceptic on the rag before reaching over to start cleaning a cut over Gaara's eye, but he grabbed her wrist, stopping her. She looked at him rather dryly, sharing the same look with him. "Gaara, don't make me knock you out. And I won't use a sedative to do it." She warned him. Gaara just glared at her before he released her wrist and let her dab his eyebrow. He winced at the sting but then he just glared up at the ceiling, letting her work.

"Oh….by the way, thank you for what you did last night." Sakura said as she cleaned his cut, getting a surprised look from him. "If it weren't for you, Sasuke would have done something worst than just…..that."

Gaara turned his teal eyes onto her, watching her carefully. He was trying to figure out if she was joking or not. But then he looked forward again not replying. He just stared right up at the ceiling until Sakura was finished. She placed a butterfly band aid onto his cut before pushing herself to her feet, and looking down at him. "I'm going to be gone for a week or two so I can heal. Apparently, I do have a broken rib and two bruised ones. But still, thank you." She told him softly before turning to leave.

However, he grabbed her wrist, holding her back. She turned and looked down at him with surprise but he just looked her right in the eye, almost trapping her into his seductive gaze again. "You owe me." He remarked before letting her go. He closed his eyes and folded his arms behind his head. Sakura stared at him for a moment before her face softened and she nodded before leaving the room. Temari and Kankuro paused before leaving to look at their younger brother. They were still somewhat surprised by the reaction. They were clearly not used to this at all but they were pleased nonetheless. "You know, Temmy." Kankuro said as they followed Sakura and Itachi down the hall away from Gaara's cell. "Things just got interesting."

"Oh yeah." Temari said grinning to herself as her head dipped down. "Things just very interesting."


	8. Chapter 8

Title: The Devil's Whisper

Short Summary:  
Sakura is a Psychiatrist for a mental hospital for the Konoha Hospital who then gets moved to her dream job in the Suna Hospital for the Criminally Insane to take care of a very dangerous patient named Gaara. WARNING! Sasuke bashing!!

Pairings:  
Sakura/Sasuke, Sakura/Gaara

Warning: Story contains implied and/ or scenes of: major language, torture, rape, angst, adult scenes, violence and probably more…

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of its characters. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

**Chapter VII**

Sakura spent almost a week at home, trying to recuperate from the nightmare she had lived through because of Sasuke. It had been a painful, but extremely boring process. She had never been so bored as she had been before. Upon from returning home, she had come to her apartment to a sudden surprise. Itachi had been trying to help her up the stairs to get to her apartment when they both noticed someone standing right outside her door. For a brief moment, Sakura had thought it would have been Sasuke coming to extract his revenge for his severe beating from Gaara but then she realized that the man standing there had a bowl cut style haircut and he was wearing black jeans and a green turtle neck shirt. She knew for a fact that Sasuke hated the color, green and wouldn't be caught dead wearing it. So it was someone else.

The man, however, turned his attention onto her and Itachi, looking somewhat surprised but then he grinned. His thick eyebrow covered eyes widened with pleasure of seeing her before he hurried over to her, carrying a beautiful boutique of roses, offering them to her immediately.

It only took Sakura a moment to realize who this was. And she felt a sweat drop form on her temple when she remembered. It was the pizza boy, Rock Lee.

The visit wasn't too long though, much to her relief. She had to be thankful to Itachi for being a little scary for once, since all she wanted was rest. Rock Lee had only stopped by to see if she wanted to go out for some coffee but he was a little disappointed when she turned him down. But he instantly understood when Sakura told him it was because she had had a little accident at work, not completely telling him the truth. She swore she would die of embarrassment if she went and told this guy that she had been attacked and raped. It was none of his business as it was.

After that, Itachi put her in bed where she seemed to be confined to rest. She was in a foul mood after that. He refused to let her wander around her own apartment, making dinner for them both since he was staying with her for a little while. He just made her stay in bed most of the time, only letting her out to use the bathroom and wash up. But otherwise, she seemed to be grounded to her bed.

For a few days, Sakura had pouted several times but eventually got over it when he let her work on some of her patients' files. But during the mid week, she felt so much better when she finally got some visitors.

When someone knocked on her door, Sakura had tried to push the covers off her so that she could go get the door but instantly Itachi appeared in her doorway, giving her a strict look. "Don't even think about getting out of that bed. You need your rest." He remarked strictly. Then he proceeded to the door.

Pouting, Sakura laid back down and folded her arms over her injured chest. She didn't have to pout too long because two faces she was looking forward to seeing had appeared in her door, both smiling brightly to see her. She was happy to see Temari and Kankuro, but surprised to see him carrying a light-pink vase full of wildflowers with a pink bow tied around it. "Temari! Kankuro! What are you doing here?!" She asked pleasantly.

Temari stepped further into the room with Kankuro, while Itachi positioned himself against the door. "Hey, Sakura. We just thought we'd come see you." The gorgeous blonde told her placing her hand onto her curvy waist. "How are you feeling?"

Sakura rolled her eyes as she gave Itachi a dry stare. "Like a confined patient. Itachi won't let me out of my room at all. All I get to do is sit here and do nothing. Now I know how Gaara feels. All I need is a straight jacket." She remarked dryly.

Itachi matched her dry look but there was a hint of a smile on his handsome face. "I can have that arranged." He told her, then chuckled when Sakura stuck her tongue out at him, still pouting.

Both Temari and Kankuro laughed with them, shaking their heads. Then the handsome perve bounced the flowers up and down a little. "Hey, where do you want the flowers? These are a gift from me and Temmy. You know, just for you get to get better sooner than later." He told her.

Sakura smiled before pointing at her dresser, watching as he now moved over to her dresser to put the flowers down. Then she turned her emerald green eyes onto Temari. "So what's going on at the hospital? Is Tobi okay? How's Deidara? How about Hidan and Pein? Are they still being anti-social or psychotic? Or Gaara? Is he behaving?" She asked curiously. "He's not getting himself into any more trouble, is he?"

Both Temari and Kankuro laughed at her multiple questions. They knew that she might ask all of these questions. That was just her nature to be concerned about her patients. So with a shrug, Temari moved over to sit down at the foot of her bed. "Well, things are just about the same since you left. Those guards who lied were fired and are now facing charges. Tobi is fine. Shikamaru's been giving him oranges every day in your stead. He's actually getting along with him. Deidara is still happy as a loon with his clay art. Yeah, Hidan and Pein are being a pain in the ass. Hidan's been making voodoo dolls up to the kazoo. Pein, well…..he's just a pain. As for Gaara, he's been quiet. For once, in his own way. He's just been occupying himself with reading books after books. It keeps him out of trouble, at least. He keeps asking about when you're coming back. I think he's bored from not picking on you." The blonde said laughing.

Sakura blushed a little at the sound of that.

There was a pause as Temari faintly smiled, looking down at the ground but then she sighed and looked at Sakura. "Sakura, the real reason why Kankuro came to see you is, well, we wish you a good recovery. But……we also want to thank you for what you did for Gaara. Standing up for him, at least. I know he saved you the other night and all, but you also saved him. If he would have been transferred to a prison, it just would have been worst for him. He….he wouldn't make it in a prison. He's already been through stuff like that. I don't want him to go through it again. You saved him from that nightmare." She told her.

Sakura faintly smiled at her thanks but shook her head. "You're welcome. But seriously, I owe Gaara my life now. Sasuke….." she made a pained face. "Gaara saved me from Sasuke. I know if he didn't, Sasuke could have done worst than what he started. He could have beaten me until I was dead. His temper's like that. Gaara….." She faintly smiled again. "Gaara is like my savior. He saved me from a nightmare that I didn't want to relive." She told her. "It was all that I could do to repay him."

"…….." Temari and Kankuro hummed, faintly smiling. "Still, thank you." The blonde added.

Sakura then frowned as she remembered what Gaara had told her that night. She remembered the name he had given her before injecting the sedative to her. She still wondered who that was that he mentioned. She couldn't ask him right now but maybe…..just maybe that Temari and Kankuro might know. "Temari, Gaara said something that night. Something that's been bugging me." She told her.

"Hmm? What's that?" Temari asked tilting her head to the side.

The pinkette bit her lip, thinking if she really should ask but then she nodded as she instantly made up her mind. She wanted to know. "Gaara said…..when I asked him why he helped me, he said he had his reasons. He said…..he said that my presence keep Him quiet." She met Temari's now growing wide eyes and she saw Kankuro even frowning in surprise. So obviously they were getting the idea of what she was talking about. "Who is Shukaku?" She added onto her statement.

There was a very long silence as the two stared right at her, even Itachi looked surprised to what she just asked. They were all astonished. For a moment, Temari looked as if she just swallowed a lemon but then she took a deep breath. "Gaara……Gaara told you about Shukaku?" She asked uneasily.

Sakura frowned in confusion but shook her head. "He just mentioned him. He didn't tell me anything else. Who is Shukaku?" She asked again.

Another long pause before the two siblings glanced at one another. It was as if they were trying to ask each other a silent question. But then Kankuro shook his head and shrugged then turned his eyes back onto Sakura. "He's Gaara's Boogey Man, his inner demon. Everyone has one of their own. His is called Shukaku." He explained. "Gaara believed in the Boogey man because our father used to tell him about him. He would scare the shit out of him at night since he was a baby, telling him that the Boogey Man, Shukaku was going to get him. Yeah, he's a little old to believe in the Boogey Man now, but it's stuck with him."

Temari nodded as she crossed her legs and rest her hands into her lap. She looked like she was thinking about how she was going to explain something. But then she sighed and sat up straighter. "I think it's time to explain something to you, Sakura. Something that Gaara should have. But since he's been a stubborn ass about it, we will tell you." She lift her head higher. "You've read his files, right? The criminal reports about how he killed our father and Yashamaru?"

"Yeah." Sakura said frowning. "They said he had become really distressed and that was what made him kill them."

Temari shook her head as she looked rather serious. "That's what the ANBU reported but it's not true." She received a surprised and confused look. "Yes, Gaara killed Yashamaru. But that's because Yashamaru was trying to kill him first." She took a deep breath. "Ever since Gaara was born, our father, Yondaime has always despised him. It was because our mother died giving birth to Gaara. She hemorrhaged and bled to death. Our father, Kankuro and I were devastated. We all blamed Gaara for her death." She held up a hand when Sakura frowned, looking like she was going to argue Gaara's case. "Kanky and I were kids, Sakura. We didn't understand what happened. Our father told us that Gaara killed our mom. So we hated him for it. But as we grew older, we found out what happened and stopped blaming him. But our father…..he hated Gaara with his body and soul. He would have thrown him into an orphanage and surrender parent ship over him but before our mother died, she made him swear that he wouldn't. So he kept him. But it didn't mean he treated Gaara like a son. Ever! Our house is really big. It's an old mansion. There are at least ten bed rooms in it but our father made Gaara sleep in the basement, which is really dark and dank. It was his prison. Gaara hated it down there but he never complained because our father would beat the living hell out of him if he did."

Sakura gasped, covering her mouth. She was horrified of what she was learning. So this was Gaara's secret. He had been abused as a child.

"Our father always used Gaara as a punching bag, Sakura. It killed me and Kankuro to watch him beat on him. Whenever our dad was mad, he always yelled for Gaara. When Gaara didn't come, he went after him. He would beat Gaara till he was nearly unconscious. So Gaara really never, ever had a happy childhood. That's why he's so violent. It's all he knows." Temari said with a sad sigh. She was quiet for a long moment but then she looked seriously into Sakura's eyes again. "It didn't help when our uncle, Yashamaru had a hate for him too. He was such an asshole, Yashamaru was. He tried to like Gaara. He pretended to be his friend, but within his heart he really loathed him. He hated Gaara for killing his younger sister, our mother. One night, while Gaara was asleep down in his prison, and father had gone out, Yashamaru snuck down stairs and tried to strangle Gaara in his sleep. He used a wire string to do it, which caused that scar on the back of his neck. It woke our brother up instantly, yeah. Gaara, of course, fought for his life. He didn't realize it was Yashamaru that was trying to kill him. He just fought and kicked at him until he smashed a bottle of soda against Yashamaru's head. Then he took off upstairs. Yashamaru followed him, still trying to kill him." She looked very sad at this part. "Gaara defended himself with a knife. He stabbed Yashamaru a few times trying to stop him from trying to strangle him. It killed him, but out of self defense. Our father, Yondaime made the ANBU believe that Gaara was a psycho kid who had a temper problem. Thus, Gaara was sent off to the Corrections Facility."

"The problem with that place was," Kankuro interrupted, sounding very bitter. "They had a bunch of fucked up boys there who thought they could get away with anything. Even sexually molesting the younger boys. One kid tried to molest Gaara once and our kid brother bashed his head in with his fist. If you ask me, the kid deserved it. Gaara's already been through hell, he didn't want to have hell there either."

Temari nodded. "Gaara got into serious trouble after that, but after I made a visit there, asking him to please, please behave so that he could come home. Kankuro and I really did miss him. Gaara promised and so he toned it down a little. Not that he didn't need to do anything otherwise. All of the kids were scared to death of him after he nearly brained the boy who assaulted him." She paused. "As for when he 'killed' our father," She made a face and shook her head. "He never did."

That took Sakura by surprise. She looked as if someone had just slapped her for no reason at all. "What? But the reports said……"

Temari shook her head again, shrugging. "Gaara and our father got into a serious fight that day. It was right after Gaara came home from the facility. The fight was about Gaara getting a job. He wanted to open up his own account at the bank so that he could get his own apartment. He was sick and tired of living with Yondaime and going through hell. Problem was, he was still a little under aged and needed a parent's consent. Our dad didn't want to help him. He was too stubborn and he had too much pride up his ass." She remarked bitterly. "So after the refusal, Gaara kind of flipped out and began yelling at him, saying that if he really hated him he should just help him get away from them."

"And knowing the old man," Kankuro added dryly, his arms folded over his chest and a dry look on his face. "He lost his temper and swung at Gaara."

Temari nodded as she looked right into Sakura's emerald green eyes, a somewhat bitter smile on her face. "Gaara, however, was so sick and tired of being hit by this man that he blocked it. He grabbed our father's arm and gave him the coldest look any one of us has ever seen. It scared the hell out of Yondaime. I had never seen him go so pale like he did. And all Gaara said was that if he ever swung at him again, he would break his fucking arm. Kankuro and I both had to leave the room, nearly on the other side of the house just to laugh."

Sakura couldn't help but smile, feeling a little proud of Gaara for standing up for himself. But still, there was the problem of Gaara being accused of murdering his father. She even frowned at the thought. "But what happened after that? If Gaara didn't kill your father, who did?" She asked, frowning in concern.

Temari and Kankuro glanced at one another but shook their heads as they both looked back at the pinkette. The oldest sibling sighed as she reached up and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "No one really knows. Not even Gaara. All we know is that Gaara went out that night, pretty steamed and did a lot of drinking. He got drunk that night and then came home. He sobered up pretty fast when he found Yondaime dead in the hall, his throat slit." She sighed again. "Gaara knew that he would get blamed for it. He was the one who found the body and he never, ever got along with our father. So he panicked and tried to hide the body himself." She told her pink haired friend.

Kankuro nodded as he also looked a little upset about the memory. "That old nosy bat next door just had to catch him though. She called the ANBU on him and that's when all of the trouble began for Gaara. He would have gone to prison but he started acting a little crazy. All that blood he saw all over Yondaime just made something click. He started to believe that it had been Shukaku who killed our old man. Well, it kind of added up on him and the officials decided to put him in the Asylum, which kind of had been Temmy's doing. She went and said that if he really was a little unstable, he should stay in the family Asylum. It was just to keep him close to us. We really didn't want him to go to prison. So we did what we could." He told her.

Sakura slowly nodded. She understood what they meant. She didn't blame them for trying to keep their younger brother near them. Even if it condemned him to a mental asylum. So with a sigh, she dipped her head down. She wanted to do something. She had to do something. She couldn't just sit there and listen to all of that and then have everyone believe that Gaara was a raving, murdering lunatic, when in truth, he wasn't. So with all of the determination she could muster, she looked at the siblings, frowning seriously. "We have to do something, you guys. We have to tell someone the truth." She told them.

Both Temari and Kankuro snorted as they looked at her with disbelief. The younger one shook his head as he gave her a look as if she had gone crazy. "Tell someone the truth? Sakura, who in the hell is going to believe us? Like anyone would. Gaara's spent too much getting himself a nasty reputation in the Suna Asylum. He's bitten several doctors or bashed in a few heads for even looking at him in the wrong way. He lives in the god damned Isolation cell! Gaara has half…..no! Not even half! Almost all of the patients of the Asylum scared to shit of him! Even the doctors and nurses are scared of him!"

Sakura shook her head as she looked from Temari to Kankuro then to Itachi who had stood in the doorway in silence the entire time. He had been listening carefully, frowning in concentration. He was trying to think of something he could say that might help Sakura with this case. The pinkette, however, just shook her head again. "Well, we can't just sit here! We have to make them believe us!" She looked at Itachi. "Come on, Itachi! Help me here! We can't just sit here and do nothing!"

"……." Itachi hummed thoughtfully before he looked right into her green eyes. "If we truly want to help Gaara, what we need to do is find the real killer of Yondaime Sabaku." He remarked.

This just caused Sakura to smile brightly to hear that he was supporting her idea. However, Temari and Kankuro frowned as they glanced at one another. They weren't sure if it was a good idea at all. "Find Yondaime's killer? That happened nearly eight years ago, Itachi! How in the hell are we going to find his killer?! How do we know if the killer is even alive anymore?! More or less even be able to find him at all!" Kankuro asked in disbelief.

Both Sakura and Itachi seemed to have shared their thoughts with one another because they both had a matching smirk on their faces as they looked right into each other's eyes. They even nodded to one another as if they agreed with their thoughts. Then the pinkette reached over and grabbed her cell phone. "Then we call in a professional. I know someone who might be able to dig up the information. He's got a real nose for mysteries. And he's really good. He's ANBU, by the way." She then paused as another thought hit her, her smile grew. "As for dealing with Gaara, I think the best thing to do for him is to let him interact with other people other than me. From now on, when I return to work, he'll be joining all of the other patients with group sessions and interacting with a certain someone that I know. This someone might just be the perfect person that can bring Gaara out of his cold ways."

"Oh, Sakura." Itachi said, now making a face of displeasure. "Please tell me you're not calling HIM? Do not bring him here, please?"

Sakura only grinned wickedly at him before she began to push a bunch of buttons, sending a text message to one of her best friends. She figured it was time to bring in the reinforcements. She knew that this certain someone would probably creep Gaara out a little with his ways, but it would be worth it in the end. No one, and she meant no one was ever able to resist her crazy and wacky friend.

* * *

Two days later

* * *

After Sakura had made her silent phone calls, she finally managed to talk Temari and Kankuro into going along with her idea, though she didn't exactly fill them in on everything. She wanted that to be a little bit of a surprise. Itachi had seemed to figure out what it was because he was a little sour mood. He obviously didn't approve her idea of bringing a certain someone into this. Though, Temari and Kankuro had not even a clue who they were talking about.

They began their plotting right after her phone calls and text messages. They began writing down possible ideas of how to figure out how to find Yondaime Sabaku's killer, and even started writing down a few names that could have been suspects. They knew they would need some help so Temari left for an hour then came back dragging Shikamaru Nara into Sakura's apartment. The pinkette explained to the lazy genius of they believed and what they planned to do.

Of course, Shikamaru had been a little skeptical. He didn't believe for a second that Gaara could have been innocent. But as he listened to more of their ideas and the story that Temari and Kankuro told Sakura and Itachi, he began to think of the possibilities. He frowned as he let the information roll around his head before he slowly nodded and stated to Sakura that she could have been right after all. He even stated that they would need an ANBU in on their plans. And of course, Sakura stated that she had been way ahead of him. She had already called the one ANBU she trusted the most.

WHAM!!

Sakura jumped when she heard car doors slamming somewhere outside her apartment. She hadn't been the only one. Temari had jumped and spun around to look at the window when she heard shouting outside before it sounded like it was coming closer.

WHAM!!!

Again, the two women jumped while the three men grew very tense when something hit Sakura's door hard. They didn't like the sound of that at all. Especially when someone was now playing around with the door knob. Sakura immediately thought of Sasuke finally coming to extract his revenge against her. It could only be him. Who else would be beating hard on her door and fighting to open the door, which she was so glad she had it locked right after Temari, Kankuro and Shikamaru arrived. She felt Itachi's hand fall onto her shoulder, and she looked up to see how hard his eyes were. She knew he would do anything to protect her from…….

"SAAAAAKKKKKURRRRRAAAA!!!! Are you even home?! Come on! Answer the door!!!" Came a very familiar whinny voice.

Both Sakura's and Itachi's faces fell at the sound of the voice, while Temari, Kankuro and Shikamaru sweat dropped as they stared dryly at the door. They all knew instantly that it wasn't Sasuke Uchiha. There was no way he could be that whinny. Sakura, Itachi and Shikamaru knew who it was though. They recognized that voice.

"Oh, great." Shikamaru grumbled now giving Sakura a dull look. "Please tell me you didn't invite him here!"

Sakura merely shrugged as she gave him an innocent smile before touching Itachi's hand, giving him a look of questioning. He understood, all the while rolling his eyes, and went over to the door, which someone was still banging on the door. Sakura just looked back at Shikamaru. "Come on, Shikamaru. He's not that bad. Besides, Naruto can just about befriend anyone. I am so sure that he can get Gaara to open up a little." She told him.

Itachi opened the door, only to get shoved to the side the minute the wacky blonde realized that it hadn't been Sakura. Naruto Uzumaki wasn't the only one who went racing right past him though. Ino was right next to him and they were both searching frantically for Sakura. When they spotted her, they dove for her. "Sakura!!" They both bellowed, arms wide. Sakura cringed, knowing that if they hugged her like they were about to, it was going to hurt her ribs a little.

However, Temari immediately reacted and stood up, blocking their way, giving them a fierce stare with her arms folded over her chest. Both Naruto and Ino halted immediately and looked taken aback that someone they didn't even know was blocking them from their friend. But Temari shook her head, giving them a serious look. "Sakura has broken ribs, people. Do you seriously want to make it worst for her?" She asked dryly.

"Uh……sorry?" Naruto offered, wincing, not liking the glare that this other blonde was giving him.

Sakura just laughed a little as she sat back against her couch, motioning for her friend to move now. "It's okay, Temari. I think I'm ready now." She told her. She smiled up at Naruto and Ino when Temari finally moved out of the way so that they could get past her. "Hi, Naruto, Ino. How's it going?" She asked.

Both blondes quickly knelt in front of her, looking up at her with worry. When Sakura had called them a few days ago, telling them that she had been attacked by Sasuke, they immediately packed a few things and headed to Suna. Of course, they hadn't come alone, as Sakura saw when a few others appeared in the doorway. She pleased to see the timid looking Hinata appear, carrying a bouquet of flowers, along with a familiar man, whom Sakura knew as Hinata's cousin, Neji. With them, was a young woman she was friends with too. A pretty young woman named Tenten. And for the last person was the ANBU.

Truthfully, the man had once been partners with Sasuke Uchiha. He was in his early thirties, still a bachelor, though he had had his girlfriends. He was a handsome man with a boyish sort of face. His hair was silver-white and he had a pair of dark eyes, though one was more reddish-brown than just normal dark. There was a long scar running over that one, the left one. He wore a black tee shirt under a dark blue jacket, which happened to be the ANBU patrol jacket. His pants were dark blackish-blue with combat boots on his feet. This, Sakura remembered, was Kakashi Hatake, Sasuke's former ANBU partner.

"Sakura, forget about how we're feeling! How are you feeling?! Does your ribs hurt?! Exactly how many did that dickhead break?!" Ino asked rapidly.

Naruto's face darkened before he stood up and looked something fierce. "Where is Sasuke, Sakura? I am so going to KILL him!!" he bellowed viciously. "Who does he think he is attacking you like that and hurting you so bad?! I will seriously beat him until he is a bloody pulp and then I'm going to smash him into the ground!"

Both Temari and Kankuro stared at the energetic blonde with wide eyes. One minute he had been extremely worried and now he was extremely PO'd. They figured he must have some kind of mood swings of some sort. It was a little disturbing.

Sakura, however, smiled softly and shook her head at her best friend, motioning for him to sit down. "Naruto, don't worry about Sasuke. I don't know where he is right now but sooner or later, he'll be caught by they ANBU. He can't hide from them too long. He's gotten himself into some serious trouble assaulting me like he did." She told them.

"Yes, he did." Kakashi said a little dryly as he closed the door and leaned against it, arms folded over his chest. He didn't look any pleased as Sakura's Konoha City friends did. "Ibiki is real pissed about what he did to you. Even right after he yelled at him after he beat up on you at the Konoha Hospital weeks ago. He told Sasuke to stay away from you from now on." He then let out a long sigh. "I'm sorry, Sakura. I should have realized what Sasuke had been doing to you. I knew he had some anger issues but I never would have guessed that he would take them out on you. If I would have known, I would have done something."

Sakura gave Kakashi a sad smile but shook her head. "It's okay, Kakashi. You didn't know. Even if you did, it wouldn't have been your fault. It's mine. I should have stood up to Sasuke a long time ago." She told him. She then shook her head when realized that she hadn't introduced anyone yet. "Oh! I'm sorry, guys! You don't know each other yet!"

Then Sakura introduced everyone to each other before she went and explained what had been happening around the hospital. She told them about her patients and when she explained about Tobi, she had to stop when she saw the look on Kakashi's face.

"Kakashi?" She had to ask.

Kakashi stared wide eyed at her for a moment before he blinked out of his thoughts. He paused as he thought about what to ask but then just jumped right to it. "Obito Uchiha is your patient?" He asked, curiously.

Everyone frowned at the question but Sakura nodded, just as confused. "Yeah." She paused before tilting her head to the side. "Do you know him?"

There was a pause as Kakashi looked away before slowly reaching up and rubbing the left side of his face, near the scar. He was quiet for a moment before he forced a smile and shaking his head. "Sort of. We…..we were friends at a time. But….something happened that caused a little friction between us." He shook his head when he saw a grossed out look on Naruto's face, which he gave him a dry look. "We were in love with the same girl, all right? Not each other, you idiot." He said dryly to him.

Sakura, however, got a sudden bright look on her face. "Wait….." She quickly began going through her patient's files and got into one of them, Tobi's actually. She began scanning the information as quickly as she could before giving Kakashi a wide eyed look. "Wait a minute. Kakashi! You were one of the friends that was with him when he had his accident" She suddenly announced, surprising all.

Kakashi's face softened a little but he looked away. "I suppose that's true." He murmured quietly.

"And….and you were the best friend that he slashed across the eye after he killed his girlfriend." Sakura said quietly.

Again, Kakashi refused to look her as he thought about it, his eyes very soft from the memory but he then nodded. He finally looked at her, a sad look in his eyes but he was smiling. "I never hated him for it though. I was angry that he killed Rin, his girlfriend but in truth it wasn't his fault. The accident just messed him up so much. He didn't know what he did until he did it." His face then darkened. "Besides, I don't think the landslide was an accident."

That made everyone frown as they stared at him with confusion. Sakura tilted her head to the side. "What do you mean?"

Kakashi shook his head as he met Sakura's eyes with a serious look. "The day of his accident, before we went hiking in the Earth Country, Obito told Rin and me that someone told him about an amazing view on those cliffs. He said that someone told him that there were crystals on that cliff. We wanted to try and find them, that was why we were up on those cliffs. It was later that I found out from someone that those cliffs had always been unstable and there had been a sign there stating that. And there certainly weren't any crystals up on those cliffs. But when we went hiking, there hadn't been a sign. Someone removed the sign. Now it could have been a coincidence, but truthfully, I don't believe in coincidences. I know for a fact that someone sent us up there on purpose. But Obito never did tell us who told him about the crystals or the cliffs. So I couldn't ask the S.O.B who put him in that sorry state, or beat the living shit out of him for it." He then took a deep breath before lifting his head. "Either way, someone is responsible for Obito's state. Maybe mine, maybe the guy who lied to him. But it was never Obito's fault."

Slowly Sakura nodded as she made a mental note about it. She wondered if she could get Tobi to talk about it sometime. She knew it might upset him a little and she needed to avoid that. But still, the thought that someone had done that to him on purpose, she felt that she could never forgive him. "Kakashi, do you think you can work on finding out Yondaime Sabaku's killer though?"

There was a pause as Kakashi thought about the information that Sakura had just given him but then he slowly nodded. He figured he could give it a try. "Yeah. I think I might be able to do it. I'll need to work with the Suna ANBU, of course. But I think I might be able to find out who did the crime." He told them. It only brought relief to Temari and Kankuro as they smiled gratefully. They were starting to feel thankful that they were going with Sakura with this now. Either way, they were getting a step closer to progress with Gaara and perhaps Tobi.

* * *

The halls were very dark as he wandered them, looking cautiously around. It was almost too dark that he could barely see. The only light leading him were small candles on the walls. The mental patient, Zaku, frowned as he slowly walked down the hall, keeping his eyes and ears open. Ever since he woke up late in the evening to his hospital room's door open, he had been very suspicious. This did not happen for a reason.

Zaku knew it might have been stupid to be out and about. The guards would probably have seen him and would throw a fit, but for some reason, there were no guards in the hall. And it was probably stupid to have gone through that door that had opened up in the wall. But curiousity had gotten the best of him.

So here he was, wandering a dark corridor, trying to find where it lead.

However, as Zaku walked, he began to get goosebumps on his arms. Especially when he started to feel a cold breeze on his skin and he could hear whispers. Horrific whispers echoing off of the stone walls of the corridors. He whirled around when he heard an almost evil laugh so quiet, it was almost as if the devil was near by. He felt his fear starting to trigger when he heard someone whispering his name.

"Zaaaaku." Came the whisper. "Zaaaaakkkkuuuu."

Zaku let out a whimper of fear as he looked frantically around for the source of the voice. But then he saw a flash of silver in the darkness. He froze staring at the silver light in the shadows, then he noticed it was a blade. He yelped, scampering backwards. He knew what this was. The Devil was out!

"No!!" Zaku cried out before turning and bolting down the dark hall. He heard the Devil laughing evilly from behind him, which caused only an echo around him. All he knew he could do was run and hope he found a way out of Hell. He could only run while the Devil hunted him. He ran as fast as he could, slipping down and then. But he would be up on his feet, racing down the dark halls, searching frantically for the exit out of Hell. But all he saw as darkness and candles. He looked over his shoulder to see if the Devil was there, and to his horror, there was someone there. "AHHHHH!" He screamed before ducking around a corner, freezing with horror of where he had just found himself.

It was a small chamber like room with candles sitting on grave like sheleves and on top of skulls. In the middle of the room was a large stone table, stained red from blood. Surrounding it, upon the floor was a satanic pentagram, painted in blood.

"NO!" Zaku yelled out before whirling around to run back out.

But the blade he saw earlier swung right out of the darkness, stabbing him right through the chin, upward into his head. He didn't even have time to scream in horror. His eyes were the only thing that screamed in terror, but even that didn't last long as the 'Devil' grinned evilly through the darkness before dragging his fresh kill towards the table to finish the ritual.


	9. Chapter 9

Title: The Devil's Whisper

Short Summary:  
Sakura is a Psychiatrist for a mental hospital for the Konoha Hospital who then gets moved to her dream job in the Suna Hospital for the Criminally Insane to take care of a very dangerous patient named Gaara. WARNING! Sasuke bashing!!

Pairings:  
Sakura/Sasuke, Sakura/Gaara

Warning: Story contains implied and/ or scenes of: major language, torture, rape, angst, adult scenes, violence and probably more…

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of its characters. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

**Chapter IX**

When Sakura finally returned to work, she had never felt so much better as she drove through the gates of the Suna Asylum. She felt as if she was taking a breath of fresh air after standing in a cloud of smoke. For the past several days, she had been so bored, only finding entertainment w her friends. Temari and Ino had both conspired together and somehow tricked Itachi into letting them take Sakura out shopping. The Uchiha heir didn't really know how they managed to do that. Still, all of Sakura's best friends were becoming close with her new friends. Ino, Hinata and Tenten sure liked Temari. Whenever the blonde came over, they were excited to see her. They would immediately launch into ideas of what to do and when they should go shopping. Sakura would always smile when her friends tried to keep her entertained.

However, not too long ago, Sakura found herself thinking a lot about Gaara lately. Ever since that night he had saved her, he had been on her mind. And it was only recently that she started dreaming about him.

In the dream she started having, she would find herself on a black sand beach, walking along the deep blue waves and staring off at a very beautiful sunset. It was a beautiful scene being played out before her. She was always wearing the same thing. A light green bikini with a white shawl tied around her waist. She was always along walking along the beaches, all by herself. She always found herself staring into the ocean, which was a strange sapphire color with teal colored waves. The waves' color always reminded her of Gaara's sea-foam colored eyes.

But then after a little while, Sakura would look up and notice that she was no longer alone on the beach. She looked up to see Gaara standing further down the beach, staring peacefully off at the sunset. He was dressed all in black; black silk shirt with the first four buttons unbuttoned and showing off his chest a little and black slacks.

In Sakura's honesty, she had to admit that Gaara looked so handsome like that, if not very hot. She would find herself looking dreamily at him as she watched him look at the sunset. But then after a short time, he seemed to have noticed that she was there. He would slowly turn his sea-foam eyes onto her before getting a devilishly handsome smirk on his face, one that he had given her before. And then he would start walking towards her, looking almost as if he was stalking her, but in a way that she absolutely liked.

Unfortunately, he never reached her in her dreams because every time he started walking towards her, she would jolt awake from hearing her alarm clock going off. And after seeing that dream four times in a row, she began to realize……she was in a lot of trouble.

Finally, Sakura returned to the Suna Asylum, though she was not alone. She had arranged it with Chiyo that Naruto, Hinata, Neji and Kakashi would go with her to visit the hospital. Both Ino and Tenten had chickened out at the last minute though. They had decided that they didn't want to go to the Insane Asylum, knowing very well that there were very dangerous mental patients there. So they told Sakura and the others they were going to have a look around the city.

As soon as Sakura and her visitors arrived, they had to go through the same procedures as always. Naruto, Hinata, Neji and Kakashi had to show the Suna guards their IDs and get a few visitor badges, as well fill out some paper work to avoid any problems if someone got hurt later on. They sure didn't like that one.

After that was done and over with, Sakura lead her friends to Chiyo's office to let them meet her first. She was actually very excited into introducing her best friends to her boss and possibly to Madara. She had liked him from the beginning, as it was. But when they got to the office, Sakura was no longer smiling. For with Chiyo and Madara, there was her former boss and mentor, Tsunade. And seeing the look on the Konoha Hospital's warden's face, both Sakura and Naruto cringed. They knew that look very well.

"Oh no." Sakura muttered cringing.

Tsunade turned her eyes onto her and nodded once as she put on a very sadistic smirk on her face. Her eyes were so cold and cruel, yet they had a wicked glint in them. "Oh, yes. I'm here, Sakura. And just to add one more thing." Her face hardened with rage. "When I find your boyfriend, Sakura, I'm going to cut off his fucking balls and then I'm going to kill him!!" She snapped viciously.

All of the males in the room cringed with fear or horror as they started to cover their gentiles, as if protecting their selves from the enraged blonde woman.

Sakura winced but then hurried forward, waving her hands in the air. "Tsunade, I swear that it will never happen again! Sasuke will never touch me again! I'll make sure of it!" She told her.

"Where in the hell have I heard that before, Sakura?!" Tsunade demanded, her fists now on her waist and made Sakura flinch a little.

Madara swallowed hard, knowing that he was now treading dangerous waters, because obviously Tsunade didn't like men right now due to his nephew. As it was, he had seen Tsunade's temper spiral out of control before. So he knew about her reputation when she got angry. But he had hesitantly held up a hand and forced a smile. "Tsunade, please calm down. I know you're angry but……"

Tsunade swirled around and put her glaring eyes onto him, which made him draw back a little. "Angry?! Angry, Uchiha?! Of course I'm angry! I practically raised Sakura! She is like my daughter and she was my best student! And it was your god damned nephew who hurt her! Multiple times!" She shook her head furiously. "You better make sure that the ANBU are the first ones to find him, Madara Uchiha! Because if I find him first, I will teach that sorry son of a bitch not to mess with Sakura again! She broke up with him and came here to get away from him and he had the gull to follow her here and RAPE HER!!" She pretty much screamed the last two words.

Everyone winced but Sakura sighed as she reached over and took her former mentor's hand. "Tsunade, please stop yelling. What happened has happened. But I'm okay now. I'm safe and I will never be hurt again. I know you're scared for me. And I'm so grateful towards you. More than you ever know." She faintly smiled. "I swear, that nothing like that will ever happen to me again." She promised.

Tsunade gave her a very suspicious look before her face softened and she sighed as she shook her head. "You better make sure, Sakura. Because I don't think I can take another scare like that again." She told her. Sakura only smiled.

However before anyone could say anything else, Baki appeared in the door way and looked someone frantic. "Excuse me for interrupting. But…" He paused as he quickly turned his eyes onto Sakura. "Dr. Haruno! I think you better come quick. It's Tobi. He's had another panic attack and he's hurting himself!" he told her gravely. Sakura's eyes widened to hear that and she even had caught sight of Kakashi stiffening. She knew very well that was not the one thing he wanted to hear when it would probably be the first time in years since he saw his old best friend. So before anyone knew it, she bolted out of the room in a flash. She heard everyone shout after her but she didn't pause at all as she hurried out.

Quickly, Sakura reached Tobi's room where there were several nurses and doctors out in the hall with guards. There were screams coming from within the room and loud crashes as guards were trying to restrain the patient. When Sakura entered the room, she froze to see that there was glass every where and the bed had been torn to shreds. Tobi was sitting in a corner with a shard of glass in his hand, which he was using to keep guards away from him.

"Get out of here. I will take care of this." Sakura told the guards seriously. Knowing Sakura by now, the guards nodded as they turned and left the room, only hovering outside, just in case they were needed. However, Shikamaru, Baki and Kakashi stood in the doorway, looking in carefully as Sakura slowly made her way over to Tobi, who was sobbing into his arms with the mask over his face. "Tobi." She spoke gently. "Tobi, it's okay. It's Sakura." She told him.

Tobi only whimpered into his arms but then he slowly lift his masked face and lowered the glass shard. He was shaken pretty badly as if something had really scared him. Or as if he had a bad nightmare. But either way, he was calming down. Dropping the shard, he covered the mask with his bloody hands, getting blood all over the ceramic mask, all the while, crying hard. "Sak-Sakura……!" he whimpered.

"Did you have another nightmare, Tobi?" Sakura asked gently as she bent down next to him and touched his arm softly.

Tobi sobbed harder but he bobbed his head up and down, telling her yes. He kept crying under the mask, while his shoulders shook violently. "T-To-Tobi…..dre-dreamed of the bad thing again! Tobi sa-saw bad things! Tobi did b-bad things! Tobi is bad! Bad! Bad! Bad Tobi!" He cried out before hitting himself in the head a few times.

Quickly, Sakura caught his fist before he could continue, holding his hand away from his head. She shook her head as she reached up and took his other hand, pulling it away from the mask so she could look at it. "No, Tobi. Don't hurt yourself anymore. And you are not bad. You are good. You made a mistake, okay? It wasn't your fault. And I know your friends don't think so." She merely glanced up at Kakashi, who's face softened as he moved a little closer. "I know your friends forgive you." She finished.

"Obito." Kakashi whispered, softly.

Anyone who heard that name stiffened, even Tobi. He grew very still before he made a wounded sound, which Sakura winced at. She shook her head as she turned slightly to look at Kakashi with a light frown. Tobi, however, just looked up at Kakashi and froze. There was a very long silence as he stared at his old friend. "……"

"Kakashi, he doesn't like to be called that." Sakura said quietly.

Kakashi merely glanced at her with a frown before turning his eyes back onto Tobi, who was whimpering. "…..'Bito, it's me. 'Kashi. Don't you remember me? Look, bud. A lot has happened between us. But I forgive you for this." He reached up and touched the scar. "Come on, man. You've always been a strong guy. Don't let a few bad dreams tell you any different." He told him.

There was a pause before Tobi sighed as he reached up and grabbed at the mask and pushed it up. This came as a surprise to Sakura, Shikamaru and Baki. They had never ever seen Tobi decide to push up his mask. But what lied under the mask startled them more. Sakura had seen all of the pictures of Obito Uchiha after his accident. He had been horribly disfigured and his face had looked as if it had been crushed. It had been a miracle that he even lived through the landslide. But it was to her surprise that Tobi's face was only scarred and not too horribly disfigured. In fact, he looked somewhat like his old self. His face was somewhat boyish, even if it was scarred and his black hair was cut shirt, but wild as ever. In a way, he looked almost exactly like Madara and Itachi. His eyes, however, were different from what their old pictures.

"What…..?" Kakashi murmured, obviously as bewildered as Sakura was.

Sakura slowly shook her head, not really understanding either. But after a moment, she faintly smiled as she reached up and gently took Tobi's hurt hand. "You see? Your friend forgives you. Now why don't we get you cleaned up." She told him gently. Tobi only nodded as he pushed his mask back down over his face, letting Sakura and Kakashi pull him to his feet.

Not more than an hour later, Sakura had cleaned Tobi's cut up hand and stitched up the wounds. She had a little of his blood splatter onto her cloths but she really didn't care about it. She had his room cleaned up while she was taking care of him with Kakashi's help and after that, she put him back to bed.

"Wow, Sakura. I knew you were good, but I didn't know you were that good." Naruto said, almost breathlessly after witnessing what she had done.

Sakura just smiled at him in thanks before frowning in thought as she looked back at the room. She saw Kakashi doing the same and knew that he must have been thinking the very same thing she was. She just frowned, wondering exactly how Tobi looked almost how he used to, only with scars all over his face. "What I don't get," she began, narrowing her eyes in thought. ", is how he looks like his old self. I thought he would have had a mangled face. But....."

"That would be my doing." sighed Madara, making all look at him in surprise. The raven haired doctor let out a low sigh before meeting Sakura's eyes and faintly smiled at her. "After Obito's recovery, I took the liberty of having him go through surgery. Plastic surgery, actually. I hated the fact that he had even gone through such a terrible accident. I tried to have his old face restored. The plastic surgeon worked on him for hours before restoring his face. After that, I gave him that mask to wear, since he hated looking at his reflection. So it would be my doing that he again looks like Obito Uchiha."

Slowly everyone took the information in but Sakura smiled faintly at him. She felt so grateful to this man. He had been doing so much for his relative that she knew he was a great man. However before she could say anything, Naruto pumped a fist into the air and grinned at Sakura. "Sakura! Let's go see this Gaara guy now!" He bellowed cheerfully. Smiling, the pink haired doctor agreed.

The visit with Gaara was going to take place in the same visiting room as usual. While almost everyone was going to be in the room behind the mirror window, Sakura was sitting in the room with Baki and Shikamaru standing behind her. She was just waiting for Gaara to be brought in. It wasn't too long after that he was brought into the room, wearing his straight jacket, of course. He looked very grumpy but when he saw Sakura, he smirked at her before pulling away from the guards and casually walking over to the chair. It actually surprised the guards that he was actually cooperating with them. He didn't look away from Sakura as he stood there. "It's about time you got back, Doctor." He remarked. "I was getting bored."

Sakura just smiled as she stood up and went over to him. She was very well that the two guards grew tense but knew that they wouldn't move. They were both starting to get used to her taking such dangerous risks like this and coming out uninjured. "Well, I'm here now, Gaara." She reached behind him and undid the straps. She could fell the tenseness in the room but she paid no mind. Gaara didn't either as he unfolded his arms, rotating them a little before sitting down in his chair. Neither one paid much attention to Shikamaru and Baki as they watched them carefully. "So, Gaara. How are you doing today?"

"Enough of that shit, _Doctor." _Gaara remarked dryly before smiling and looking coyly at her. "Instead of asking how I am, how are you doing? Is your ribs still hurting?"

Sakura really couldn't help but smile right back at him for his question. She hadn't heard any concern in his tone but she could tell that he was, just by his wandering eyes on her ribs. Normally, she would have took that as him looking her up. But she knew Gaara, in a way. He wasn't that type. "They're hurting a little still. It'll take a while to fully heal, but they will. As for the one responsible," She let out a light sigh. "Well, Sasuke's still hasn't been caught. He went missing that night. Honestly, I am very nervous about him being loose. But I know sooner or later, he'll be caught. He can't stay hidden for very long." She smiled again at him. "But otherwise, I'm fine." She told him.

Gaara slowly nodded as if he was taking it into thought but then he glanced at the mirrored window, as if he could see right into it. "Who's back there today?" He asked, dryly.

Smiling, Sakura's eyes flickered over to the mirrored room but shook her head. She didn't really understand it how he always knew that there was someone in the other room. More or less, it was someone he didn't know. "I brought a few friends to meet you, Gaara. They wanted to thank you their selves for what you did for me." She told him. But then she went quiet for a minute as she looked right at back at Gaara, looking softly at him. "Gaara, there's something we need to talk about. Something very important. Something you said that night when you saved me. Something about Him."

The red haired patient gave her a very dry look but he slowly shook his head. "Doctor, I would rather not talk about Him. So let's avoid that subject." He said grimly.

Sakura forced her smile but she slowly shook her head. "It's all right, Gaara. You don't need to tell me about Him. I actually....well, I actually asked your brother and sister about Him and they told me. So don't worry. We won't ever talk about that guy until you think it's time to talk about him. No, actually....." She bit her lip while glancing away from him. She was trying to think of how to approach the subject dealing with his past carefully. She knew that it might annoy him a little for even asking questions about him to his siblings. She had had that happen a couple of times. "I actually asked them about.....you."

Gaara narrowed his eyes a little but it was more in thought than anything else. He frowned slightly before looking right into her emerald green eyes. "You asked about my childhood, didn't you?" He asked, sounding un-amused.

The pretty doctor bit her lip but smiled sheepishly at her patient. "Sorry. I was just a little curious about why you're the way you are. And you really wouldn't tell me yourself so I really didn't have a choice." She told him with a sigh but then she tilted her head to the side. "As for the deal with your father, I don't believe that you did anything to him. That's why I'm having a friend of mine who works for the ANBU looking into your case. We are going to find your father's real killer." She told him.

The red haired patient just frowned at her but tilted his own head to the side. "Why in the hell would you do that? What do you owe me to do something......"

"I owe you my life, Gaara." Sakura interrupted, seriously but she had a faint smile on her face. She lift her head and folded her hands together on the table. "That's why I think it's time to discuss something with you. Do you remember when you asked me about myself? Well, I think it's time to tell you. We have more things in common than you realize." She nodded once when Gaara's eyes narrowed a little in thought but there was no doubt he was surprised by what she meant. "When I was born, my father hated me from the very minute I took my first breath of life. He had wanted a son, not a daughter. It made things much worst when I had pink hair and a big forehead. I did not look like him at all. Well.....I might have his eyes but still. I looked more like my mother, yes. She had strawberry blonde hair though. But because I didn't look like my father, he thought she went and slept around with other men." She snorted bitterly at the thought. "Truth was, she did. But he was my father. I came from him. Either way, he hated me from the beginning. He didn't want anything to do with me. He mostly ignored me. But there were those times where he couldn't."

Gaara merely frowned as he watched her for a moment. "When he couldn't, what did he do to you?"

Sakura had a serious look as she looked directly into her patient's eyes, her smile was now gone. She was quiet for a moment but then she looked away towards the wall. "He would beat the living hell out of me." She looked right back into his eyes, still looking grave. "And if you think the beatings were bad, wait till you hear this. Sasuke Uchiha, my Ex-boyfriend that you beat up for raping me......he wasn't the one who took my virginity. I lost that when I was ten years old." She told him and nodded once when Gaara's eyes flashed dangerously as he got the very idea of what she was trying to get at.

* * *

In the hidden room, Temari gasped sharply before slapping a hand over her mouth. Mostly everyone was stunned by hearing that. Everyone, but Naruto and Tsunade. They both had grave looks on their faces, acting as if they were not surprised to hear what Sakura just told her patient.

"Is.....is that true?" Chiyo asked just as alarmed as everyone else.

Tsunade sighed but she slowly nodded. "Yes. I'm the one who treated Sakura after her little incident." She informed them all. "Sakura's stronger than she lets herself out to be. She's been through more hell than any one of us can realize. But some how, she always manages to keep a smile on her face." She told them before faintly smiling as she looked back into the room. "I'm proud of her of what she's done in her life."

* * *

"Your father?" Gaara asked quietly after Sakura revealed one of her darkest secrets to him.

Sakura merely shook her head as she forced her smile. She took a deep breath and shrugged. "No. Not my father. But....he influenced it. You see, my mother ran off with another man when I was six years old so I was stuck with him. I really hated her for it, and in a way I still do. She's out there somewhere. Don't know where she is, nor do I care. As for my life with my father, well, it was not a great life. I was treated poorly and I wasn't properly taken care of. I was the worst student in school and I always got picked on. I always dirty, I couldn't read or write. My father would not help me with anything. All I knew was that I was stupid and I did everything wrong." She explained. "As for how it happened, I had just come from school and my father was having a party with some of his friends, getting drunk. Well....one of his friends spotted me and starting laughing at me and asked my father if I really was his kid. My father was so mad at me for showing up. He glared at me and demanded that I go to my room." She sighed softly. "Well, I did but his friend followed me and he raped me. He even gave my father money afterwards, laughing about it. But as for me, I ran away from home and never went back."

There was no reply from Gaara as he sat there listening to the entire story, a very dark look on his face. It was obvious that he didn't like this story.

But with a shrug, Sakura continued to smile at her patient. "I know it sounds terrible but that really was the best thing I ever did in my life. After I ran away from home, I lived in a box in the alley. I tried to keep going to school, even though I was always filthy and the worst student. I just had to try and make my life better it had once been. But the thing was, I was terrified of men because of my father's friend. Any time a man came near me I would cry and run away from them. No one seemed to guess what was wrong with me. They just thought I was shy." She let out a light laugh. "But then......I met my best friend. The one who helped me in more ways than I would ever know." She told Gaara before motioning to the window. Gaara frowned but looked at the door as it opened.

And in came Naruto, grinning as he entered the room. He waved his hand rather enthusiastically at the red head, who was now glaring at him suspiciously. He didn't seem to realize that the patient was already not impressed with him. And if he did, he didn't care one bit. "Hi, Gaara! It's nice to meet you finally!" The blonde said brightly as he went over and sat down on Sakura's other side, away from the patient.

"Gaara," Sakura said smiling gently as she motioned to her friend. "I want you to meet my best friend. Naruto Uzumaki. Naruto came all the way from Konoha with some of my other friends to see me. They heard about the attack and wanted to thank you for saving me."

Naruto nodded as he leaned back in his chair a little, still smiling at the glaring red head across the table. "Yeah! I'm so glad that Sakura's okay! I don't know what would happen if anything were to happen to her!" his grin grew wider as did his eyes. "But that's all thanks to you! Thanks, man! Sakura's safe because of you!" His face softened as he glanced over at the pink haired woman next to him, who smiled right back. "She's my best friend and if anything were to happen to her, I don't know what I would do." And just as fast as he had smiled, his face darkened again as he looked back at Gaara, who frowned in some surprise. "Though, I wish you could have done something else to Sasuke. Like punch him in the sack! That way he'd think twice before hurting Sakura again!" He said with rage and a fist shaking a little at the thought of the raven haired man who pissed him off.

Now, Gaara was smirking, amused by the blonde.

Sakura, on the other hand, gave her friend a stern look before she punched him over the head. "Naruto! Don't say such crude things in front of a lady!" She scolded him. "I don't want to hear about the sack!" She was somewhat surprised when her red haired patient actually chuckled at the reaction between the friends. So with a shrug, she smiled again. "Oh. Let's continue on with my story." She thought for a second, trying to remember where she left off. "Oh! That's right! I met Naruto! How I met Naruto was just a fluke. We went to the same school as one another but we never hung out with each other. I had no friends because I was homeless. But.....Naruto changed all of that when he was playing football in the hallways of our school, and ran me over." She said, giving her blonde friend a dark look as if she remembered that day as if it was only yesterday.

Naruto laughed sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh, yeah! I remember that. You punched me that day too." He laughed and shook his head as he scooted a little ways from Sakura.

"Well," Sakura continued. "Naruto finally noticed me and kept on apologizing a million times a minute. I swear, I had never met someone who could say so many words within minutes. But he sure stopped when his friends started making fun of me. They laughed at me and called me 'Fleabag Haruno' and even kept on jabbing me until it really hurt. Physically and emotionally." She told Gaara, her face softening with a look of sadness of the memory.

Naruto nodded, a dark look on his face at the very memory. "Yeah. And I really laid it on them for picking on her. Stupid jerks. I hate bullies. I used to get bullied all the time until I started fighting right back." He remarked.

Sakura shrugged as she glanced at her blonde friend before looking back at Gaara. "Well, that's true. Naruto did lay it on those guys. Or at least he laid them down on the ground after punching them in the faces and yelled at them to stop teasing me. I, on the other hand, was already running away from them, crying. I had been hurt by their words that I decided to not go to school anymore. I left the school and went back to my box in the alley." She smiled again as if she remembered the details of what she was going to say. "But, something happened that I didn't even think that would. Naruto came after me, with his cousin, Ino, who is my other best friend. He told her about me and they decided to come looking for me. They didn't come alone. They came with Naruto's legal guardian, Jiraiya."

"A man." Gaara stated the obvious.

Sakura slowly nodded with a faint smile. "You see, Naruto is somewhat like you, Gaara." She nodded again when her red haired patient frowned at her. "He lost his parents when he was too young to remember. He barely remembers them. They both died when he was just a baby and he was sent to an orphanage, where they didn't treat their kids very well. Naruto was bullied by the other boys and he always got into trouble for pranks and jokes that he pulled. He sometimes got beaten by the orphanage's warden. It was enough to make him run away from there." She smiled. "But that's exactly how he met his cousin, Ino. He literately ran into her too and it pissed her off. She beat on him too but then they started talking and they kind of learned about each other. They didn't know that they were cousins until Ino told her father about him. And when she described Naruto to him, he instantly became intrigued and went to the orphanage to see Naruto, who had gotten caught and was taken back."

"Heh! You should have seen the look on Uncle Inoichi's face! When he saw me, I swore he was going to shit himself!" Naruto laughed rudely folding his arms behind his head. "He thought I was Minato for a second!" And he got his head slapped by Sakura for his language. "Ow."

Sakura sighed but turned back to Gaara, smiling at him. "Inoichi, Ino's dad realized that this was his cousin's son. Minato Uzumaki-Namikaze, who was once a very wealthy man in Konoha, was Naruto's dad. I didn't know him, obviously. But I've heard of him. Anyone who lives in Konoha has. Minato was the founder of a corporation that helped people who needed it. He donated a lot of money at every charity that Konoha City had. He was always helping people and making sure that people had homes. But when he died, his corporate kind of went with him. The chairmen of his company were the ones who hide Naruto away in the orphanage. The money was suppose to go to my blonde haired blockhead friend here but they wanted it for their selves. So they pretended that Naruto was dead while they stuffed him into the orphanage. But when Inoichi found out that Naruto was alive and he was Minato's son," She got a very wicked smile on her face. "Oh, were those chairmen sorry for not killing Naruto when they had a chance. Inoichi dragged Naruto right up to that building, after calling his godfather, Jiraiya, and they both yelled at those men that they were begging for mercy by the time they were done. When Inoichi Yamanaka gets mad, you want to be well far away from him as possible. It's not pretty."

"Hell! He even scared me! I still don't piss him off!" Naruto said, sweat dropping with a hint of fear in his eyes.

Gaara couldn't stop but snicker as he watched this full grown man cringe back in fear at the mere mention of his uncle getting angry. But with dry smile, he turned his sea-foam eyes back onto Sakura. "And as for Jiraiya? How did you meet him?" He asked quietly.

Sakura bit her lip but smiled. "Well, after he started taking care of Naruto, he really cared for him. He was in charge of Naruto, of course and he even taught him, himself. Jiraiya's not the best teacher but he's pretty good. However, he's a big ladies man and kind of perverted. He writes romance books." Her face scrunched up a little as she thought about it. "Very graphic romance books. But either way, the day Naruto met me, he met me. Naruto called Jiraiya and told him about me and so he decided to come see me for himself."

Naruto made a face at the memory. "Yeah, but when you saw him, you freaked." He said but shut up when Sakura shot him a look for interrupting again.

The pink haired doctor glared at her best friend for a minute but sighed as she turned her attention back onto Gaara and nodded. "Yes. When I saw Jiraiya with Naruto and Ino, I freaked. Unfortunately for me, I was in a dead end alley so I couldn't run away. Especially when Jiraiya got this goofy smile on his face and tried to approach me in his own friendly way. But when I curled up into a ball against the wall, he seemed to realize exactly what was wrong with me. He got this serious look on his face and backed away. He figured out what was wrong with me the second I started crying in fear of him. With Naruto and Ino's help, he coaxed me into his car and he took me to the hospital where I met my future mentor and guardian, Tsunade. She put me through a full physical examination and found out what was wrong with me." her eyes grew very wide. "Now, if you really think you're scary, Gaara, wait till you meet Tsunade. She's ten times scarier than you when she's pissed off and when she's drunk."

Of course, Gaara looked doubtful. That is until Naruto look wide eyed at him and shook his head. "No, she's serious. Granny Tsunade is scary! She starts throwing things when someone hides her sake bottles. The last time someone tried to keep her from drinking sake, which was Jiraiya and she tried throwing him out the window of her four story apartment complex."

Somewhat bewildered, Gaara didn't say anything.

"Still, after that," Sakura continued smiling. "The best years of my life began. Tsunade got me cleaned up and she started taking care of me. She's kind of like my mother. The mother I always wanted and didn't have. She even taught me how to read and write and she tends to get a little over protective whenever I get hurt. She's threatened Sasuke's life more than fifty times. She really hated him from the beginning." She told him.

"And with good reason too." came the very voice of the woman they were talking about.

Sakura, Naruto and Gaara looked up when she came in, surprised that she managed to open the door without catching their attention. "Tsunade." The pink haired doctor said, standing up, frowning. She knew very well that it was probably not a good idea to have so many people in the room with Gaara. She was sure he'd get a little tense. But she was surprised to find that he was relaxed.

Tsunade walked into the room, though kept her distance from the red haired patient. She knew better than to get too close. "Gaara Sabaku. I'm Tsunade, the warden at the Konoha Hospital." She began, folding her arms. "I, like many others, would like to thank you for what you did for Sakura, and what you did to Sasuke." Her eyes narrowed dangerously on the name. "Though I'd like to get my hands on the little prick for myself." She turned her eyes onto Sakura. "Sakura, it's time to move on. Why don't you inform him about his new sessions?"

Gaara frowned but Sakura nodded with a smile as she turned her eyes back onto her patient. "Gaara, I was going over to some ideas of how we can help you and I came to the conclusion that you've been in Isolation long enough. I know you don't like interacting with people too much but I hope that you don't mind, I'm going to do a group session today with my other patients and I want you to be there with us." She saw him frown and she tried to give him a charming smile, while folding her hands together as if begging him. "Come on, Gaara. Aren't you sick and tired of sitting in your room with nothing to do and just listening to the others down there yell and scream? Just come sit in with one session and we'll see where that goes." She told him.

There was a long silence as Gaara looked dryly at her. He didn't say anything for a while as he stared right at her then let his eyes flicker over to Tsunade and then Naruto. Then with a low irritated sigh, he nodded as he turned his eyes away from them all together. "Fine. You're the doctor, Doctor Haruno. If you think that is what is best." He said dryly.

Sakura smiled brightly and nodded as she stood up with Naruto, who was also grinning. She was just glad that he was cooperating with her. She had expected more defiance from him but she was just happy that he wasn't. "Good! We'll go now! Come on!" She told him, reaching for his hand.

Gaara frowned as he stiffened a little. He had noticed how Baki and Shikamaru both grew very tense and was watching him very carefully with their hands on their batons. The only ones who hadn't grown tense was Naruto and Tsunade. They were just watching carefully. But without saying anything, he let Sakura grab his wrist and pull him to his feet. He even let her drag him over to the door where guards intercepted her, looking very nervous. "Doctor Haruno......" One said, terrified and glancing at the red head.

"It's all right. She's got everything under control." came Chiyo's voice, who just barely came out of the back room. She seemed to guess so either way. She was smiling as she watched the interaction between her employee and her patient. So she just nodded over to Baki. "Baki, why don't you remove Gaara's straight jacket as well. If he's going to start letting us trust him and he trusts us, there's not need for him to wear it. It'll only scare the other patients, if he doesn't." She told them. Baki, however, hesitated as he took a step towards Gaara and Sakura. He was a little uneasy, no doubt. He wasn't entirely sure if he was a good idea to remove Gaara's straight jacket. But Chiyo looked right at him and smiled her ancient smile. "I trust Gaara enough to do the right thing, Baki. He has already. So remove it and then get on with your work."

Baki let out a low sigh before nodded. "Yes, ma-am." he then went over to a smirking Gaara and grabbed at his jacket. He paused when he saw that smirk, giving the red head a warning look. "Behave, Gaara." he told him before undoing the jacket.

Gaara snorted only once but glanced over at Sakura, who smiled right back at him. He could only stare at her with only mild wonder. In truth, he didn't understand this woman. She was a doctor, and he was an extremely dangerous mental patient. But she trusted him. He could see the trust in her eyes. It was that trust that confused him. He didn't understand why she trusted him. No one ever did. But he would play her little game and see where it went.

* * *

After almost an hour of going through security clearances, Sakura's group session was going to take place in the activities room where some of the patients were doing a few things with each other. Some of Sakura's patients were there. Even Tobi had managed to get himself up and went to the session. He seemed to have been doing better after a two hour nap. He was being his cheerful self as soon as Sakura, Gaara and some of her guests entered the room. Though, his hands were still pretty sore from his self inflicted injuries.

Of course, when Gaara entered, all activities stopped. He had been noticed.

All of the room's occupants stopped what they were doing and turned to look right at the red haired patient, who dipped his head down a little and looked around through narrowed eyes. It didn't take a genius to realize that the other people were afraid. The patients murmured, sounding terrified and some even stood up to move back away from Sakura and Gaara as they walked towards the small circle where the rest of her patients were. And even some of them were looking at the red head with alarm.

"Doctor Haruno, what are you doing?"

Sakura glanced over to see a very alert Sasori, who had been speaking to her patient, Deidara, who was eyeing Gaara with the same alarm as everyone else. He, like the rest of the patients, looked very nervous of being around the dangerous patient. But Sakura merely smiled at Sasori, lifting her head higher. She made a quick glance over at Gaara, who kept his eyes flickering around the room at the other patients, giving them a dark look for staring at him. "Gaara Sabaku will be joining the rest of us for the group session, Dr. Sasori." She told them. "I thought it best if he started interacting with the other patients."

Sasori stared hard at her for a long moment before his eyes flickered over at Gaara, who met his eyes with a lazy look. He narrowed his own eyes before lifting his head and looking back at Sakura. "Dr. Haruno, I do not think that is such a good idea. Gaara is not ready....."

"Sasori," Gaara suddenly interrupted, surprising the other red head, who gave him a dry look for cutting him off. "I'll decide of what I'm ready for. As will the good doctor, here. And don't worry about your patients." He told him, though his eyes flickered over to Deidara, who drew back a little and he smirked. "I'll play nice just this once."

Sakura didn't miss the look that both of the red haired men were giving each other and hadn't missed the look that Gaara gave Deidara but she didn't pay too much attention to it. Instead, she gently placed a hand onto Gaara's shoulder and lightly turned him towards the circle, pausing to give Sasori a reassuring smile. "It's going to be okay, Sasori. I promise. Gaara's going to behave." She then motioned towards Deidara, smiling gently at him. "Come on, Deidara. Why don't you come join us?" She asked softly. She missed the tense look that Sasori shot at the blonde. She did see the blonde patient grow stiff and even felt him stiffen under her hand. But after a moment of looking at Gaara, she felt the blonde relax and his lips curved a little before he let his eyes flicker uncertainly over at Sasori but he nodded as he let Sakura steer him towards the circle.

Some of the guests, however, did not miss the look that Sasori had on his face. He looked very serious and uneasy at the same time, which was probably why he stuck around the entire time of the session.

Sakura was sitting in between Tobi and Gaara, who the other patients tried to sit as far away from him and remain in a circle with the others. Though, out of everyone, the only one who actually remained calm and unbothered was Pein. He didn't seem interested at all of what they were doing. He would only glance around at the others, with heavy lidded eyes. Though he let them settle on Sakura for a little while.

"All right. Why don't we begin? As all of you know, I am Doctor Sakura Haruno." Sakura began, smiling warmly around the circle at all of her patients while tapping her clipboard. "I know that most of you might already know each other, but I would like you to introduce your selves if you would. Say your name and what you like to do." She told them.

"Tobi is Tobi's name!" Tobi said cheerfully, jumping right to it. It made Sakura smile when he did, and most of the others roll their eyes. "Tobi likes oranges and Tobi likes it when Sakura-chan brings Tobi oranges!"

Sakura laughed softly as she reached up and ruffled the masked patient's short black hair, who seemed to enjoy it. He leaned towards her like a puppy and giggled as he let her run her hand through his hair. Then she looked around at the others. "Well, Deidara! Why don't you go next?" She asked, looking at the blonde sitting a little ways from Tobi but playing with his clay.

There was a short pause as Deidara kept playing with his clay but then he looked up, looking as if he was surprised that Sakura started addressing him. But with a grin, he held up his clay, revealing that he had been making it look something like Sakura. "Okay! I'm Deidara, un? I like to make things out of clay and make things go boom!" He then cackled wickedly as he crushed the miniature clay Sakura.

The real one drew back a little alarmed but taking a deep breath, she smiled at Deidara and gave him a nod. "Okay. So you have a strange hobby. But who doesn't?" She turned her eyes onto Hidan next, smiling at him, while he seemed to be making some kind of doll. She couldn't really tell who it was she was making. "Okay, Hidan. You're up. What do you like to do?" She asked, though she had a feeling as if she was going to regret asking that.

The silver haired man glanced up from his voodoo doll before a very evil smirk curled on his face, evil enough to make a shiver run right up Sakura's back. She did not like that look on his face. He was looking at her as if he wanted to kill her in the most possible way just for his enjoyment. "I like to sacrifice things to my God of Death. Perhaps you would like to become my next sacrifice." He said in an evil way and even started to stand up as if to make his way over towards her. Of course, everyone in the room stiffened a little. Everyone but a few. One of those few had been Gaara, who made a growl within his throat, and that was what caused Hidan to stop and look over at him. He saw very well that the red head was giving him a very dangerous, vicious look, almost daring him to carry out his threat towards the doctor next to him. And it was that look did Hidan back down.

Taking a deep breath of relieve, Sakura gave Gaara a quick glance of thanks before looking at Pein next. "Pein, would you like to tell us what you like to do?" She asked, though she felt another shiver run up her back when Pein gave her that look. The look as if telling her to not talk to him.

Of course, he did not reply.

Sakura realized that this wasn't really getting her no where in this session and she felt sorely disappointed. But instead of giving up just yet, she glanced over at Gaara, hoping that he'd work with her on this. She knew that he didn't want to be there, but she knew it was for the best. She had to try and help him be more social.

"My name is Gaara Sabaku." The red head spoke up in a low voice, which had everyone's attention and Sakura's relief that he was doing as she hoped. "What I like to do is read."

Sakura was just surprised that he just admitted that, and was so honest about it. She had remembered that her patient spent most of his time reading while in his cell, so obviously he had developed a liking for it. Interested, she tilted her head to the side, smiling faintly at her patient. "Oh? Really? What do you like to read, Gaara? I mean, if you don't mind sharing with us." She said, motioning to everyone, who was now watching the red haired patient.

There was a very long pause as Gaara slowly looked each and everyone over, then turned his sea-foam eyes back onto Sakura, who was still looking very curious about her own question. "Murder mysteries." Was his only answer.

Delighted, Sakura nodded. She was just very happy that he answered her question. In a way, she had to agree with her patient on that genre. She liked murder mysteries, herself. She was pretty sure that the reason why Gaara liked murder mysteries so much was because he was living one. His father had been murdered by someone and no one knew who it was. Worst case scenario, he had been blamed for it. So it was up to her and Kakashi to find out who murdered Yondaime Sabaku. She knew that they had to help him. He didn't deserve to be blamed for a murder he didn't commit. Thinking of that subject, her eyes brightened and she looked around the circle. "What about all of you? Do each of you like reading? And what do you like to read?"

Tobi squealed before bouncing up and down in his chair and raising his hand, though he ended up whimpering and holding his hand again, seeming to pout.

Laughing, Sakura nodded to him. "Careful. You cut up your hand pretty good, Tobi. So don't move your hands so quickly. What do you like to read?" She asked, delighted that even Deidara, Hidan and Pein's attention was finally perking up. They all had their full attention on her now.

"Coloring books! Tobi likes to read coloring books! They are the only books that Tobi can color without getting in trouble!" Tobi said excitedly.

Again, Sakura laughed as she reached up and ruffled her patient's hair. She saw Kakashi chuckling from across the room and shaking his head and turn his eyes onto Naruto and Baki, saying something. She hadn't heard what he said but she read his lips. "Obito's always loved coloring books, even if he's a full grown man. So I'm not surprised he said that." He had said and that made both Naruto and Baki, and whoever had heard laugh their selves.

"What about the rest of you?" The pink haired doctor asked, smiling around at the circle. She motioned to Deidara. "Deidara? What do you like?"

Deidara flicked his long blonde bangs out of his sky blue eyes and glance up at the ceiling as if he was thinking very hard. But then grinned at her in his own cheerful way. "Well, I have a thing for romance books." he admitted. Sakura's eyes brightened to hear that. For a very brief moment, she could have sworn that he was actually sounded stable by saying that. "I like to blow them up!" The blonde then cackled with wicked laughter as he crushed his clay sculpture he had been working on.

Still, Sakura couldn't help but laugh silently and shake her head then looked at Hidan, almost regretting it. "Hidan, do you like to read?" She asked.

"Fuck no! Reading's for pussies!" Hidan said nastily, not looking amused.

And for that remark, both Sakura and Gaara gave him a cool look for saying that. Tobi, however, covered his ears and started humming loudly, stating that he hadn't heard swear words. He obviously didn't like to hear them. Even Pein was giving Hidan a cool look for the remark about reading. But he still didn't say anything. Instead, he folded his arms and looked away, not interested in answering Sakura's question.

"Well, maybe you haven't read the right books, Hidan." Sakura said a little dryly but then her eyes brightened. Now that she thought about it, there was a shelf in that room full of books. Smiling, she held up a finger and stood up. "Actually, why don't we find a book for you! You should try reading some of them! There are several books I know full of adventures and mysteries and even romance rolled into one! Let's see if we can find one for you!"

"Would Sakura read to us?!" Tobi asked brightly bouncing in his chair.

Sakura blinked in surprise but turned to look at her patients, somewhat uneasy. She wasn't too sure if she should read out loud to them. She knew that some Psychiatrists did read to their patients but she wasn't even sure if she should. But then she saw Gaara's mouth now curl into a smirk and he nodded as he folded his arms over his chest. "Why don't you, _Doctor_? It'll make him stop bouncing around." He said, nodding his head towards Tobi. Even Deidara nodded, looking cheerful as ever. He obviously agreed.

So with a smile, the pink haired doctor nodded as she went straight to one of the closets. "All right then. I'll read to you." She said, sounding proud as she opened the door.

However, something very terrible happened as soon as that door opened, something that Sakura could never dream of ever happening. She had never knew how terrible it could be until something came flying at her out of the closet and knocking into her. As soon as the door opened, something fell right out of the closet, right onto her. Too startled at first, she caught whatever it was. She had thought it was maybe a broom or a something but when she realized of how heavy it was, it became very clear to her that it was not what she thought. It was a dead body, covered in blood. It took her a second to realize what she was holding now and even gave a little shrieking gasp as she tried to back away from the body, only to have its feet tangle up with her own, tripping her. Sakura gasped as she fell backwards to the ground, still covered by the body. She hadn't even heard the shouts of alarm, or even Tobi's own scream of alarm. All she did was stared up into the body's face, noting that it was practically stripped of its skin. There was blood all over it, getting onto her.

Then she really started screaming and trying to get the body off of her.

"Sakura!" She heard everyone shout and even heard the pounding of feet rushing towards her.

But it had been Gaara who reached her, yanking the body off of her and pulling her away from it. She only shrieked as her feet was tangled up with its limbs but did her best to get as far away from it as she could. She clutched onto Gaara, who was pulling her with Kakashi's help now while everyone just surrounded them. "Oh, my god!" She began to ramble with horror as she tried to stand up with Gaara's help. She stared at the mangled body with horror before tears began to fill her eyes. She had just had a dead body come flying at her from within the closet. Sobs began to break out as she covered her mouth and buried her face into Gaara's shoulder.

"Holy shit!" Naruto yelped as he grabbed at Sakura's shoulder, but didn't pull her away from Gaara. His eyes were mostly on the dead body with a puddle of blood under it. "What the hell?!"

Both Baki and Shikamaru quickly moved forward and checked the body, but then they drew back, sharply. Baki turned and looked wide eyed at everyone. "It's a patient! This is Zaku! He's been missing for a few days. Looks like he's been dead for a short time though. Not more than a day or two." He announced.

"Hmm. Looks like the Devil's struck again." Gaara said, darkly, still holding onto Sakura, who was sobbing. But as soon as he said that, she pulled away and looked wide eyed up at him. She was pretty sure she just heard him say; _again._


	10. Chapter 10

Title: The Devil's Whisper

Short Summary:  
Sakura is a Psychiatrist for a mental hospital for the Konoha Hospital who then gets moved to her dream job in the Suna Hospital for the Criminally Insane to take care of a very dangerous patient named Gaara. WARNING! Sasuke bashing!!

Pairings:  
Sakura/Sasuke, Sakura/Gaara

Warning: Story contains implied and/ or scenes of: major language, torture, rape, angst, adult scenes, violence and probably more…

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of its characters. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

Author's Note: As I wrote this chapter, there is a part that deals with a night club, so I was listening to techno music to get a clear image of what I was writing. Me, myself was listening to Move Your Body by DJ Cammy from Playlist .com.

The techno songs I think would be best to listen to is either Move your Body by DJ Cammy, Boom Boom Boom or We like to Party by Venga Boys, Moonlight Shadow Remix by Groove Coverage (Awesome group, btw) or a song called Boom! (Though I don't even know who made it or sings it. It's there though).

So if it helps you, you can probably listen to one of your favorite dance songs or something. It helps me a little, anyway. Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter X**

"WHAT IN THE HELL WAS THAT?! WHAT WAS A DEAD BODY DOING IN THAT CLOSET?!" Tsunade yelled at the top of her lungs, clearly just as freaked out as Sakura was right now.

When things finally calmed down, and Dr. Orochimaru and his assistant, Kabuto retrieved the body of the patient, Zaku, most of everyone was now in Chiyo's office. All of the patients had been escorted back to their rooms and locked in it until they could get to the bottom of Zaku's dead body. Of course, Sakura had immediately been escorted to the women's locker room, where she took a long hot shower to get rid of all the dried blood on her and was given some clothes to wear, which ended up being scrubs. The hospital had plenty of extras in the entire building. Still, even though the blood was gone now, Sakura felt as if it was still on her. She was shaking pretty badly while trying to sip some hot coffee. Naruto and Kakashi were closest to her, trying to help her calm her nerves but it really wasn't working.

Of course, when Tsunade started yelling, that got everyone's attention.

"Tsunade, please don't shout. We have no idea of how that body got into the closet." Madara sighed, shaking his head as he offered Sakura more coffee, who declined. He then turned to his nephew, who had arrived just shortly after what happened. He even offered him some coffee but Itachi also declined. "Now, we don't know what we can tell you about the dead body other than that particular patient has been missing since the night after of Miss Sakura's attack." He informed them.

Sakura took a shaky breath before sitting up straight, trying her best to looking serious and professional. She had recalled Gaara's words right after the body had fallen onto her and had been pondering them for a little while now. "Gaara said something about the 'Devil strikes again'. What did he mean by that?" She asked, looking around the room at everyone.

There was a very long silence as most of everyone glanced at one another. Chiyo and Madara looked rather uneasy, while Temari's face fell as if she just barely realized something very important. Frowning, she placed her hands onto her waist and looked right at the warden and Head Doctor. "You didn't tell her about the murders?! You were suppose to tell Sakura about them, Chiyo!" She said in a scolding way.

"Murders?!" Sakura and Naruto both yelped in alarm while the others just frowned.

Chiyo sighed but shook her head as she folded her hands together. She was doing some light thinking but she knew very well that she needed to say something. Tsunade, however, began glaring around the room at the warden, the doctors and even the guards. "What do you mean murders?! There has been murders going on in this hospital and you haven't even told us about them?!" She demanded.

Again, Chiyo sighed but shook her head as she turned her attention onto Temari. "We haven't told her about the deaths because we wanted to ease her into it." She looked at Sakura and then at Tsunade, looking very serious. "Yes. Murders. There has been several murders going on within the hospital within the last year. They happen every other month though. But so far there has only been about ten murders. Most of them are patients but we have had only one nurse killed as well. As far as we can tell you, they happen every other month around 3 o' clock in the morning. That's when the patients go missing. No one really notices the patient missing until it's too late. It's due to the fact that we have so many patients here. We can't always keep track of every single one. Especially with the dangerous ones." She told them.

"I told you it was a big mistake keeping it from Dr. Haruno, Chiyo." Orochimaru said though he somewhat sounded amused as he entered the room with Kabuto. "I told you that you should have just come out and told her about them."

Everyone looked at the tall, thin and pale doctor but Chiyo frowned and sat up straighter in her chair. She had a very cross look on her face, Sakura noticed. "Orochimaru, you studied the body, correct? What did you find?" She asked.

Orochimaru folded his hands behind his back, with a faint smile on his face but Sakura really didn't like it. If she didn't know any better, she would have guessed that this doctor enjoyed his work a little too much. "Nothing out of the ordinary that we haven't seen before, Chiyo. The body, much like the previous ones was severely cut up. There are several lacerations all over the body, and the heart has been removed from the chest, just like the previous ones' had. Whoever has done this terrible act is no doubt NOT in the medical field. The chest was cut open roughly and the heart was simply ripped right out. Nothing more, nothing less."

Sakura felt sick listening to that. She didn't want to hear anymore. But....she still couldn't help but shudder to think that the dead patient could have been her own patients. She didn't think she could ever bear the thought of one of her patients getting killed. "Why didn't you tell me about them?" She asked quietly, her head lowered.

Everyone looked at her but no one spoke for a very long time. No one could figure out what to say. Chiyo sighed as she shook her head and made a glance over at Madara then to Orochimaru, who was clearly enjoying the discomfort going on in the room. It just made the old woman glare at him for a few moments but then looked over at Sasori, who had been quiet the entire time. But he was also watching Orochimaru with discontent. "We didn't tell you, Miss Sakura, because we didn't want to scare you." Chiyo continued.

"Didn't want to scare her?! A little late for that, don't you think, Chiyo?!" Tsunade demanded, angrily, her arms folded over her chest. "Look at her! She just had a dead body fly at her and all of sudden you're telling us that there's murders going on in the Suna Asylum! How scared do you really think Sakura can get now?!"

Chiyo could only sigh but Madara shook his head as he reached up and massaged the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "You're right, Tsunade. We did wrong by keeping the murders away from Sakura." He looked at Sakura with great sympathy and grief. "I am so sorry, Sakura. We should have told you what you were getting yourself into. We really did not expect another murder to happen while you were here." He told her.

"So you weren't expecting Sakura to stay here very long, is that it?" Kakashi asked dryly.

Madara shook his head looking at the ANBU with mild surprise. "Well, not entirely. I would think that like most doctors, she would have quit and returned to the Konoha Hospital. I really hope that she doesn't. She's well liked here by most of the doctors and nurses. Plus she gets along with some of her patients. It's amazing that she gets along with Gaara Sabaku just fine. He never talks to anyone. It's either he tries to bash someone's head in or he draws away from all contact. But with Sakura....." He was saying.

"Look," Temari said impatiently as she folded her arms. "I know my brother well enough to know that the only reason that Gaara talks to Sakura is because she seems to understand him. She doesn't force him to talk about his inner demons. She talks to him like a normal person. No one, and I mean no one, not Dr. Wie, Sasori, or even any of us does that. That's why he gets along with her."

Slowly Chiyo nodded as she looked right at Sakura, who was slowly starting to calm down now. She had to admit it but Temari was right. Sakura did talk to Gaara like a normal person. "That's why I'm going to ask Sakura to continue working here." She received many surprised looks from everyone but she ignored all of them. Her eyes were only on Sakura. "Sakura, I am so sorry we kept this from you. Orochimaru is right. We should have told you from the beginning. Please, I ask for your forgiveness. I want you to keep working here. But I will understand if you back out now. After having Zaku's body flying out at you like that, I can understand why you would like to resign from the Suna Asylum." She said quietly.

There was a short silence as Sakura listened to her but then she slowly shook her head now putting on her determined face. She knew very well that if she was anyone else, she would have quit. But her mind was on her patients. She couldn't leave them. Not just because of a homicide within the hospital walls. This only made her determination fire up more. "I would never quit. My patients need me. Yes, I'm a little upset that you didn't tell me that there were murders going on but I can't leave my patients to such danger. I have to do what I can to protect them." She said.

Everyone smiled at her, admiring her bravery. Madara shook his head, smiling gently at her. "I'm glad, Miss Haruno. You are a very brave young woman. I don't know any other woman, or person at all, that would face this kind of tragedy with such a brave face like that. I admire your courage." He announced.

"I believe we all have to." Orochimaru remarked, smirking. He seemed very pleased that she was staying as well. "I will continue observing the body and see if I can find anything else. I will keep you updated on the procedures." He told Chiyo.

Chiyo only could nod as she waved a hand for everyone's dismissal. Her ancient eyes turned over to Sakura though, giving her a look of pity. "I'm very sorry that we kept it from you, though, Sakura. I really did not want to scare you." She told her.

Sakura merely smiled at her but shook her head as she stood up and finished off her coffee. She didn't understand why she was feeling calm now that she had just had a dead body come flying at her. Perhaps, she believed, she wanted to make sure that none of her patients were going to be the next dead body. If there was going to be one. She really hoped not. As for now, she thought it was best if she went home for the rest of the day. It would give her some time to think. And when she asked if it was all right, Chiyo immediately stated that she would have it no other way. Grateful, Sakura asked her friends to just wait at the front gate while she went to get a few things from her office.

However, along the way, she bumped into Kabuto.

"Dr. Haruno, I must say, I really admire you." The gray haired assistant said as she walked down the hall. He had been waiting for her to come out of her office, which did surprise her. "You are probably the bravest woman I've ever met. Not even our own nurses would even think about getting close with Gaara Sabaku and even deal with a dead body falling on them."

Sakura smiled at Kabuto but shook her head as she shouldered her bag full of papers and she picked up her sopping wet after removing them from the hospital's washers. "Thank you. I really don't think I'm the bravest though. Believe me, I was terrified when that poor man's body came falling on me from the closet. It's not every day that happens." She told him.

Slowly, Kabuto nodded with a coy smile on his face as he folded his arms across his chest. He was quiet for a moment but then he merely shrugged. "It's not every day that you get held by the most dangerous and insane patient we have either." He remarked.

Everything seemed to freeze for a moment and Sakura sure stopped walking as she registered what he just said. She looked at him in bewilderment and confusion before her eyes lit up in realization. Her mouth fell open for a second before she shook her head and squinted her eyes. "Wha-? Gaara.....was just pulling that body off of me. He was just trying to help me because I was so frightened." She told him, laughing a little. Though, in a way, she felt nervous.

But Kabuto just smiled and shook his head as he shifted his weight to his other foot. He was looking at the pink haired doctor with amusement. "Doctor, I'm not the only one who saw Gaara holding you. They might not see it the way I do, or Dr. Orochimaru does, but we both know that he's using you for a source of amusement." His eyes grew very serious under his glasses as he looked Sakura right into the eyes. "I'm sure that Chiyo warned you about Gaara having a habit of coaxing people into a sense of trust. That is what Gaara Sabaku is doing to you. He's playing with you and you are falling for his little game. He does this all the time. And if you don't be careful, he will probably do worst to you than you realize. It'll either be him hurting you, badly. Or you will lose your job. Because I can guarantee you, you will not have heard this only from me." He told her.

"I thank you for your concern," Sakura said, a little blankly. "But I can handle myself."

Faintly smiling, Kabuto nodded as he turned slightly away from her but kept his eyes on her own. "I sure hope so, Doctor Haruno. Because I would seriously hate a beautiful woman like you getting hurt because of the brutality that Gaara Sabaku has shown before." he then lift his head higher. "Maybe I should tell you more about what to expect from Sabaku. Why don't you join me for dinner and I can tell you all about it?" He asked smiling.

Sakura frowned in surprise at him but then her face fell a little as she realized that this was only a ploy to get her to go out with this guy. She had heard this kind of pickup line before. So she shook her head. "After all of the excitement I've had already today, I'm sorry. But I'm going to have to pass. I think all I want to do is go home and get some rest." She told him before she smiled at him and walked right on. From the corner of her eye, she had seen Kabuto's face fall into a scowl. She didn't look back at him until she started rounding one of the corners and when she did, she saw that he looked furious. She merely frowned but went on to the parking lot.

As she approached the others, Kakashi had seen the look on her face and he frowned at her. "Sakura? Something wrong?" He asked, catching everyone's eyes then.

Sakura blinked out of her dazed thoughts. She had just been thinking about what Kabuto said and it bothered her a lot. She couldn't help but think that he might have been telling the truth. It was true that Gaara could have been playing a game of trust with her. She had had more than one person tell her that. But.....it was just so funny to her. She felt more at ease around her dangerous patient than anyone else. Even her best friends, and they had been with her so long. "Uh, no. I'm fine. I'm just....I'm just thinking about what happened today, that's all." She told Kakashi.

"After having Zaku's body flying at you like that, I can see why." Temari said with a sigh.

Naruto folded his arms behind his head looking up at the blue sky but then his face contorted as if he was thinking about something very confusing. He lowered his face and looked right at Temari. "Hey, hey! Shikamaru, that creepy ass doctor, Orochimaru guy said that the heart was ripped out of that guy's chest. Was it like that with the other dead guys before? Did their hearts get ripped out too?"

There was a pause as Temari and Kankuro glanced at one another but they both nodded as they looked back at the others. "Yes. Baki suspected that it was Hidan because of his savage religion. The Jashin Religion are a bunch of voodooists and they sacrifice living things. Mostly it was animals but only one or two occasions, especially during All Hollow's Eve, there were human sacrifices. It was doing human sacrifices that got Hidan in trouble and put in the insane asylum in the first place." The blonde said.

"Problem was," Kankuro added, folding his arms over his chest. "After the first couple of murders, Chiyo had Hidan kept under constant watch. We even had hidden cameras in his room, even though that's illegal as it is. But we wanted to make sure it wasn't him who was doing anything." He shook his head, making a face. "A month later after we even had the cameras installed, a dead body showed up in the same manner as the others. One of the doctors, actually. Hidan didn't do it. He was stuck in his room, making voodoo dolls all night long. Either that or praying to some creepy ass skeleton doll he has in his room. We even kept a good watch on him for the entire year and there was still dead bodies popping up. So we know it's not him." he told them.

Kakashi folded his arms and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. It was obvious he didn't like this. "There's something missing here. Is there anymore religious patients you have here?" he asked looking at the two siblings.

Another pause as the two thought for a moment before they both shook their heads. "Not that I know of. Most of the patients don't believe in any higher or lower beings. They just don't believe in anything anymore. Basically, they're damned as far as they know." Temari explained. "And the Jashin is the only ones I can think of that would rip out hearts from someone's chest." And her brother nodded in agreement.

Sakura just shook her head as she looked around at everyone. "I don't get it either. And I really don't think Hidan did any of this. He's a little strange and creepy but I don't think he did anything." She told them but looked to Shikamaru. "But, if Shikamaru will, just keep an eye on him."

"Sure. I'll do that." The lazy guard told her.

"As it is, I'm going to head on over to the ANBU station and begin my search there for anything to do with the Sabaku murder." Kakashi told them as he was already heading over to his silver BMW. He paused to look over at Sakura. "Sakura, just be careful. With all of this happening, I can already tell that you're going to place yourself in the middle of it. Even if it means protecting your patients. Just don't get hurt in the process, all right?" He asked her.

Sakura smiled at him but nodded. "I won't." She promised, though she was kind of wondering if she lied to herself. She watched him climb into his car and drive off. But then she then glanced over at Temari, frowning. She was still thinking about the conversation she had with Kabuto and hadn't really liked the way he had talked to her before. And he looked pretty angry that she turned him down. But she could only wonder about him. "Temari, there's something I need to ask you."

The blonde looked at her with the others but she nodded. "Yeah? What is it?" She asked, but then frowned when she saw how serious the pink haired doctor looked. "What?"

Sakura just shook her head as she thought for a moment but she could only shrug. There was only one way that she could think of how to ask this. And that was just coming clean with Temari and Kankuro about everything. "Although I still a little shaken, I don't really want anymore surprises to come flying out at me from a closet. Especially dead surprises. So I kind of would like to know about some of the other doctors and staff members. Would it be a sin to ask about them?" She asked, frowning.

Both Sabaku siblings looked at one another but then they looked back at Sakura shaking their heads. They knew very well that they owed her some information after her little scare. And it was clear that she was now suspicious, not that them blamed her at all. And because they liked her, they would tell her. "No, Sakura. It wouldn't. Why don't we go out tonight and we'll answer your questions." The oldest sibling said, folding her arms and even sparing a glance over at Sakura's friends. "And we can show your friends a time of their life since they're staying in Suna for a couple of days."

Everyone had to agree.

So that night, Sakura went home and got cleaned up to go out. She even told Itachi that he was invited and asked him to go with her. She was still pretty shaken up so she wanted him to stay close to her. He was like her brother after all. He agreed, even though he almost made her change her mind when he announced that he had signed her up to take Self Defense classes at a local Dojo.

"Itachi, I don't have time to take Self Defense classes." Sakura told him dryly.

Itachi smirked at her as he folded his arms over his chest and watched her as she straightened her hair and put a cherry blossom clip in it. He was ready to go, himself, wearing black jeans and a black net shirt while he had pulled his own hair into a loose ponytail. If he and Sakura didn't share brother/sister feelings for each other, Sakura would have been drooling for him. He was pretty good looking as it was. And the way he was dressed, he kind of looked like a rock star. "You do now. I've already cleared it with Ms. Chiyo that you can take Saturdays off. And she's agrees that you need some hand to hand combat experience. That way you can defend yourself if you ever get attacked again." He told her sounding too amused.

Sakura gave him a dry look but shook her head as she hooked her small silver hoops in her ears and then let the tiny diamonds just hang on the bottom of them. "Gee, thanks, Itachi. Did it ever occur to you that I didn't want to make a fool out of myself in front of a bunch of testosterone pumped guys?" She asked, just as dryly.

"Sure it did. But I know very well that you're going to knock them all on their asses." Itachi said smirking at her. "Just pretend each one of them is Sasuke and you'll do just fine."

Her eyes brightened and she pointed towards him with a grin. "Good idea! I just hope they have life insurance because if I pretend their Sasuke, someone might get severely hurt." She said before laughing. Of course, Itachi joined in by chuckling and shaking his head. He was just happy that she was smiling again. He had thought she would be scarred pretty badly after getting raped by Sasuke. But as he always knew, she was stronger than she thought of herself. She was going to be fine, he realized.

The nightclub that Temari and Kankuro told them to meet at wasn't even too far from Sakura and Itachi's apartment. It wasn't even more than five blocks away from the apartments and the motel that Sakura's friends were staying at. It was a very nice place, as they could see. It was called Desert Rose Oasis. The outside was pretty neat with a ruby red neon sign on the outside with a rose leaning against a palm tree. There was music booming outside just as much as there was inside. The club itself was more like a tower, yet there was an open space right in the very center of the club, showing a magnificent view of the night sky directly above the building. According to Temari and Kankuro, it possessed three levels. Each levels had their own classes and such. The first level was mostly the dance area, though everyone danced every where. And it was where a large stage was sitting, where a DJ played loud and energetic music. Now and then they would have live bands too. The second level was where the drinks and refreshments were served, and most of the socializing. The third level was for VIP only.

That was where Temari and Kankuro took Sakura and her friends. It amazed all of them that Temari and Kankuro could get them onto the VIP section, that is until they admitted that their family owned the club.

The VIP level was a little quieter than the rest, but there was still music booming up to that level. It also held the best view of the stars twinkling high above the earth. There were even a few baloneys for people to go out on for peace and quiet. The entire party consisted of Sakura, Itachi, Naruto, Hinata, Shikamaru, Neji, Ino and Tenten, and of course the Sabaku brother and sister. They all looked very nice and dressed appropriately for a night club. Sakura was wearing a black skirt that ran to just above her knees with black nylons underneath, along with a ruby red halter top that tied right behind her neck, showing her bare back.

Ino wore a similar outfit only her halter top was violet colored and she had golden beads hanging around her neck and golden hoop earrings. She had black high heeled boots that ran up to her mid calves. Sakura rolled her eyes at the boots though. It was these boots that she teased Ino about, calling them hooker boots. Ino got mad at her all of the time when she called her favorite boots that.

Tenten wore a light maroon Chinese style shirt with skin tight black capries pants and her hair, of course, was pulled up into two buns. She never did anything else with them.

As for Hinata, she wore a cream colored one piece dress with black flat shoes. She was the only one who didn't look like she was out at a club. But she didn't care either way. As long as she was with Naruto, she couldn't care less of what she wore. And neither did anyone else.

Temari Sabaku, of course, dressed very clubbish like. She wore a shimmering lavender tank top shirt over it and black leather pants that fanned out only a little around the heels. She wore short, high heels on her feet, a little fancy like though for a night club but she was the type who didn't care about how she looked, only that she wore the appropriate clothes for the occasion. As for her hair, she pulled it up into a single pony tail for the night with her bangs hanging over her eyes. She had a few gold bracelets on her wrists and a black choker with a golden fan hanging on it.

The guys, of course, didn't care too much about what they wore. They were all practically wearing the same thing; baggy jeans that fit just fine around the waist and tee shirts or mesh shirts. With exception of Kankuro, that is. He was wearing a black tank top and black leather pants with combat boots. And Sakura caught a better glimpse of the tattoo snaking down his arms. They looked more like puppet strings and there were even spooky looking puppets on each shoulder, both different. He had already begun his flirting with passing by girls, winking at them and grinning. Some giggled as they made eye contact with them, but it was more than likely that they knew who he was and just wanted him for his money.

"This is a really nice place." Shikamaru had to admit as he looked around the night club and admired the structures.

Temari grinned as she crossed her legs and leaned back in her chair. "It is, isn't it? Our family has owned this building for ages. It used to be an old hotel but it got shut down when Kanky and I were kids. Even before Gaara was born. Our father turned it into a restaurant and then when he died, we made it into a night club. Almost anyone can get in if you have a membership card. But we are careful about who we accept into the club. If you're a scum bag, you don't get in. You can't even buy your way in with the bodyguards. The bouncers we hired to look after this place are paid very well and they know better than to take bribes. We've had only one bouncer take a bribe that caused a major fight, but he ended up facing little bro, here." She said motioning to Kankuro, who grinned. "The bouncers might be bigger than Kankuro, but they can never win a fight with him. He might act like an idiot most of the time, but when he hits someone, they're out for the night."

"Thanks, Temmy." Kankuro said dryly but then found amusement by winking at another passing by girl.

They listened to highly energetic clubbing music for a while before Sakura turned to Temari who took the liberty to order drinks for everyone. Her mind was on what they had wanted to talk about before. "Temari, about some of the doctors at the hospital......" She was asking.

The blonde woman smirked at her as she tapped her foot in the air to the music but she shook her head as she placed her hand onto the table in front of her. "You really like working, don't you, Sakura? Do you ever take a break and try and enjoy yourself." With a shrug and a sigh, she tilted her head to the side. "Okay. What do you want to know?" She asked as she glanced up at the waitress who brought all of the drinks for everyone.

"Well," Sakura paused as she leaned closer to her, not caring if anyone heard but she wanted to make sure that Temari heard her just fine. "I'm just curious about some of our Co-workers. I don't know Sasori, Orochimaru and Kabuto very well and to tell you the truth, they kind of give me the creeps so I don't want to ask them, myself." She shrugged. "What can you tell me about them?" She asked, curiously.

Temari smiled but shook her head as she picked up her drink and took a long sip before putting it down again. She glanced around at everyone else who was clearly listening in and trying to listen to the music at the same time. She didn't care at all if they heard. She knew what to say and what not to. "Well, let's start on Sasori, since his name came out first. He's my, Kankuro and Gaara's cousin." Her words surprised everyone to snap their attention to her. Kankuro was too busy checking out girls. "What, you didn't see the resemblance between Gaara and Sasori? They both have the same red colored hair and they kind of look like alike." The blonde shrugged again as if it wasn't a big deal. "Chiyo Akasuna is actually our great aunt, so that makes Sasori our cousin. He's okay. He's just very grumpy and he has no tolerance for anything. He's really impatient and hates being forced to wait for anything. He might not act like it but he really loves his job. He likes helping people and treating medical problems. Plus he's the only doctor that can actually hold a decent conversation with Deidara. Everyone else can't stand talking to that bomb loving idiot." She then winced when Sakura made a face. "Oh, that's right. Sorry, Sakura. You like Deidara, don't you?" She asked.

"Deidara is interesting. But I was kind of curious about Deidara and Sasori. I haven't ever seen Sasori talk to any of the other patients. So I was kind of surprised to see him today talking to Deidara." Sakura admitted after she sipped her own alcoholic beverage, her eyes flickering over Itachi, who snorted as if he had found something very amusing but he wasn't going to share it.

Temari even rolled her eyes as if she found something amusing about Sakura's words too but she shook her head. "Trust me, Deidara is the only patient that Sasori can stand. He can't even stand Gaara and they're cousins. No one really knows why he can stand that nut. But in truth, Sasori is the only one who can calm Deidara down when he has panic attacks. He doesn't have them very often, if any at all. But now and then he'll have a panic attack and he can get even worst than Obito, believe me. He starts throwing his clay all over the place, thinking they're grenades and he throws a fit when they don't explode. Like I said, Sasori is the only one he'll mostly listen to. He seems to like you though. Deidara, I mean. So that's probably why he listens to you."

"It's probably because she complimented on his clay art." snorted Kankuro, proving that he'd been listening all along. He tilted his head towards his older sister, looking even as amused. "No one here does. Other than Sasori, which, is probably why he likes him in the first place." He shrugged before turning his dark eyes onto Sakura. "As for Orochimaru, you be careful around him. He might be friendly towards you, but he's got issues. Chiyo don't like him. No one does."

Shikamaru even looked interested as did Neji. Both Naruto and Hinata had escaped to the lower levels to do some dancing and Ino had been asked to dance by another guy so she didn't turn him down. Tenten was even listening on everyone's conversation while Itachi just drank his drink in silence. He was ignoring the girls staring at him and had even declined to dancing with a few when they asked. He didn't care for dancing, apparently. "What about him though? Why's he so creepy?" Shikamaru asked.

Both Sabaku Siblings shook their heads as they gave him a dull look. It was like they were trying to tell him that question was a bad one to ask. But the oldest sighed as she rested her hand across her stomach. "No one knows what his problem is. He's the weirdest doctor we have in the entire hospital. And believe me, we do have some weirdoes. He's very intelligent and could easily become one of the top doctors. But he's chosen to deal with dead bodies. He is always down in the morgue and he hardly ever comes out of there. His assistant, Kabuto is the same. They're also always together and working with one another. There's been some very odd rumors about them actually....." She made a look of disgust. "Well, there's a rumor that....."

"Temari, you can say it." Kankuro said dryly. Then he looked at the others, making a disgusted look, himself. "No one knows if it's actually true. But everyone's saying that Orochimaru and Kabuto are fuck buddies. It's because they hardly ever go out with others, more or less women."

To hear that made everyone's faces turn to a look of disgust. Bad mental images were now forming in Sakura's head and she felt as if she wanted to bang her head up against the table to get them out. But she couldn't help but remember that Kabuto had tried to ask her out that day. So she wasn't too sure if that was true. Then again, he could have been Bisexual. "Kabuto asked me out today." She blurted out. "I turned him down of course. He's so weird."

Everyone's eyes snapped to herm, quite wide. It definitely took them by surprise.

"He did? Well.....I guess there goes the bed buddy rumor." Kankuro said, actually sounding relieved.

Sakura smiled and shook her head as she folded her arms over her chest. She found it funny how relieved he sounded. But with a shrug, she tilted her head and looked at Temari, who seemed to have read her mind. "I'm not entirely sure if the rumor about Orochimaru and Kabuto are true and I don't want to know if they're true. But Kabuto is a creep. You were right to turn him down. He very high of himself and is way beyond over confident. I think he's like that because he's working with Orochimaru. I'll admit it that he's very smart and he really looks up to Orochimaru but he's so mysterious and in a creepy way. I did hear that he's taken interest in you, now that I think about it. I remember hearing Madara say that Kabuto was asking a bunch of questions about you. So there's a good chance that he likes you. Not that I blame him. If I were a lesbian, I would like you. Believe it or not, you are hot, Sakura." She said grinning.

"You got that right." Kankuro said before having to duck because Itachi threw olives at his head and gave him a warning look. It made the skater boy cringe a little. He knew better than to test Itachi and he realized that trying to flirt with Sakura was testing his patience.

Sakura blushed but shook her head as she looked at the table. She felt flattered that she was being called hot. She was never ever called that before. Pretty, yes. Beautiful, maybe. But hot? No. "I don't know about that." She said softly that everyone almost missed it. It made everyone look at her and frown. But she shrugged with a faint smile. "Thanks for the compliment though, Temari." She told her.

"Well, we all know that Gaara likes you." Kankuro said grinning. And he started laughing when Sakura blushed hot red and gave him a wide eyed look. "What, you think no one saw how he pulled off Zaku's body from you and then held onto you while you were having a little panic attack after having a dead body fall on you? Come on, sugar. Give us more credit than that. Everyone saw it. We just didn't say anything at the time because a dead body of a patient was found today. You knew sooner or later that we were going to tease you."

"Shut up, Kankuro." Sakura muttered still bright red from embarrassment.

Everyone just laughed as they watched their friend's embarrassment. They had to admit it but Sakura teasing was pretty fun, due to the fact that she was easy to tease. They loved watching her get so flustered like she was now. A energetic techno song came on, making everyone look around before Temari cleared her throat and pushed herself to her feet. "Well, I don't know about the rest of you. But this is a night club and I do look forward to having a good time. That includes dancing." She looked over at Shikamaru and smirked at him as she reached out and grabbed his wrist. "Come on, lazy ass. Dance with me."

"Wha-?!" Shikamaru said, flustered but let Temari drag him out of his chair.

The others only smiled and shook their heads as they stood up too. Neji and Tenten, of course linked hands as they followed after Temari and Shikamaru, who was blushing a little. Itachi and Kankuro both looked at Sakura, smiling at her. Sakura didn't really have the intention to dance though but that didn't stop both of them from grabbing her wrists and pulling her to her feet. "Come on, little sister. You're dancing too. You need to get up and enjoy yourself once in a while." Itachi told her as he pulled her after him.

Kankuro nodded and grinned as he walked beside them. "Yeah. Besides, I want to have at least one dance with ya before you go hooking up with my little brother." he said teasingly.

"KANKURO!" Sakura yelled over the loud music, looking flustered and blushing again. "I am not hooking up with Gaara! He's my patient for crying out loud!"

The dark haired Sabaku heir just laughed and shook his head as he and Itachi escorted her down the stairs to the dance floor and joined the others in the hot dance going on below. "Yeah, yeah. Keep telling yourself that, sugar." he told her before he began to move with the rhythm.

Itachi just smiled down at Sakura, who was still blushing but he placed an arm around her shoulders so he could lean in close to her ear. "Don't mind Kankuro, Sakura. He's just trying to get to you. He's actually harmless and he means well. He and Temari just wants you to enjoy yourself. You work too hard as it is. I know because I spoke to Tsunade about what you've been doing all these years." He told her. He then stepped back and tilted his head to the side. "So, enjoy yourself for once."

Sakura only smiled at him and did what she was told. She actually enjoyed herself that night, dancing among her friends and laughing with them. She, the Sabaku Siblings and her friends from Konoha danced with each other and just had a blast. All the while, deep down, Sakura promised that when the time came for Gaara's release from the Asylum, after they discovered the truth about his father's murder, she would probably bring him to this night club so he could enjoy himself for the first time in his life.


	11. Chapter 11

Title: The Devil's Whisper

Short Summary:  
Sakura is a Psychiatrist for a mental hospital for the Konoha Hospital who then gets moved to her dream job in the Suna Hospital for the Criminally Insane to take care of a very dangerous patient named Gaara. WARNING! Sasuke bashing!!

Pairings:  
Sakura/Sasuke, Sakura/Gaara

Warning: Story contains implied and/ or scenes of: major language, torture, rape, angst, adult scenes, violence and probably more…

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of its characters. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

**Chapter XI**

There was a light breeze blowing all around her and it felt very nice. The smell of salt swirled around her and it was very pleasant. It was so peaceful and she wished that it would last for a very long time. Sakura found herself walking down the black sand beach, once again, staring off at the gorgeous colors in the sky. The many reds, yellows and oranges filled their entire sky, looking almost like a tropical sunset for her to look at. It was like a paradise here.

It was that dream again, she realized.

Sakura glanced down at her body and found herself wearing the light green bikini with a white shawl tied around her slender waist and she was bare foot as she walked along the deep blue and teal waves splashing against the beach. She recognized the dream that she had been having for the past few nights. And when she looked down the beach, she realized she wasn't alone. Again. Down the beach, her emerald green eyes spotted the handsome devil, himself, Gaara. He was doing what he usually did in the dream. Staring at the sunset with a peaceful look on his face. That is until he realized that he wasn't alone and looked to see her watching him. He was wearing the black slacks and black silk shirt with the top four buttons undone, showing off his pale chest. His skin was almost the color of pearl against the black but his complexion was almost beautiful even to Sakura's opinion. He was so good looking and it should have been a crime. His devilish handsome smirk curled on his face before the red haired man turned and started walking towards her.

'This is it. I'm going to wake up before he comes too close.' Sakura thought to herself in a dreamy way, though she did feel disappointment to think that she would wake up before he reached her.

But......he did this time.

Gaara Sabaku actually walked right up to her and stood not more than two feet away from her, looking right into her wide green eyes. His arms hung down at his sides while his head was dipped down low to look at her. Sakura couldn't help but stare breathlessly up at him. She had never seen him come close to her like this. But here he was, standing close to her and looking down into her eyes. If that wasn't enough, he slowly reached up and moved his hand so close to her face, lightly putting his fingers against her cheek.

It surprised Sakura to actually feel those fingers. She could feel them against her skin, as if they were really there on the beach. She felt a tingle run through her body as he slowly trailed his fingers down her cheek towards her chin where he cupped it with his hand. It felt so real.

**BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!**

Sakura's eyes snapped open and she jolted awake from hearing her alarm clock and threw herself up into a sitting position. She sat there for a moment listening to the loud beeps before she groaned and reached over to push the button to shut it up. Groaning some more, she reached up and rubbed her eyes, thinking about why she set her alarm clock. She knew she didn't have work that day. It was Saturday.

"Sakura." Came Itachi's voice before he appeared in the door way with a pan full of scrambled eggs and bits of ham cooked in it. "Sakura, get up. We have things to do."

Dryly, Sakura looked up at him, knowingly. She knew who set her alarm clock now. She remembered that she hadn't set it last night so it must have been Itachi. She was feeling some regret for letting him move in with her now. "Itachi. It's Saturday. I get to sleep in on Saturdays. Remember?" She asked blankly.

Itachi, however, shook his head as he smirked at her and turned away a little. "Not today. You start your Self Defense classes today, remember? I told you that last night. Or weren't you listening? You concentrate way too hard on your work, you know that, right? I know you want to help your patients, but you really shouldn't push yourself so hard. You'll wear yourself down." he told her. He heard her swearing as she grabbed her pillow and covered her face so she could scream in it. He only chuckled. He knew very well that she wasn't happy about being forced to take Self Defense but he wanted to make sure that she could take care of herself. But he also knew that she'd get over it sooner or later.

Annoyed, Sakura laid back down and glared up at her ceiling. This was so not going to end well.

The Dojo Itachi had signed her up at was half way across Suna so it about twenty minutes to get there. It was called "The Green Beast Dojo," which made Sakura raise her eyebrow and give Itachi a look as if he had lost his mind. She was starting to wonder after seeing this place. Once inside she saw that there was a small store that sold weapons and equipment for Self Defense training. It was pretty much in the front of the store where there was a young woman sitting there, reading a magazine. She merely glanced up at the two before pointing to a hallway to the right. "If you're here for the new classes, just head down that way. They've started already but they won't care if you're late. God forbid that." She said rolling her eyes. "Just remember to take off your shoes before you enter the Dojo."

Sakura frowned but did as she was told with Itachi following behind her. They both took off their shoes and placed it on a shelf where there were quite a few shoes. So obviously they weren't the ones, not that they thought they were going to be. In fact as soon as they stepped into the Dojo area, Sakura froze. It was due to the fact that the very first thing she saw was Rock Lee doing push ups, yet standing up on his hands. He was there, wearing a deep green Gi.

"Oh, god. No." She groaned.

Rock Lee must have seen the flash of pink because he looked over with almost everyone else before his face brightened. He shoved himself upward and flipped over onto his feet. He stood up and hurried over to them, much to Sakura's disappointment. She really didn't want him to. "Miss Sakura Haruno! You're here! Did you come to see me then?!" he asked hopefully, grinning a sparkling smile at her.

Sakura gave Itachi a very dry side wards glance. She wondered if he knew that Rock Lee was going to be here at the Dojo. But she frowned a little when she saw how surprised he looked. So he obviously hadn't known that the strange pizza boy was going to be there. But with a sigh, she turned her eyes back onto Lee and tried to smile. "No. Actually, I'm starting up Self Defense classes." She shot Itachi a look again. "Apparently, I need to learn how to defend myself." She told the black haired young man.

Grinning, Lee looked excited either way. He then turned and started waving a hand into the air. "Gai-sensei! Gai-sensei!! She's here! Here is the angel that I told you about!" He yelled, catching everyone's attention.

The pink haired girl's face turned bright red when she saw every eye turned towards them. She had not wanted to have everyone notice her. But it was a little too late to make Lee shut up. Because everyone was looking at her now. Most of them were guys, of course. In fact, it looked like all of them were. And what bewildered her more than Lee was a man who looked exactly like him, only bigger and stronger looking. He had the weird bowl cut hair and thick fuzzy eyebrows, only they were fuzzier than Lee's. He even was wearing an identical green Gi just like Lee's.

Behind him was a very large man, much bigger built than the man who looked like. He was much taller by a head and had very pale skin that looked almost blue like. His hair was very dark with a blue tint to it and his eyes were just as dark. He wore a black sweat pants and light blue muscle shirt with a bandana tied around his head, but he wasn't looking at Sakura. His eyes were on Itachi. Grinning, he and the weird Lee look alike walked right up to them and greeted the two. "Hey, Itachi! Glad you could make it!" He said in a deep voice. He then looked at Sakura, who was very much surprised by both of the men. "Hey, this the chick you told me about?" he asked, gesturing her with his thumb.

"CHICK?!" Sakura exclaimed through gritted teeth. She was really starting to get tired of being called that.

Itachi made a face as he placed a hand onto her shoulder and shook his head at the large man. He knew very well that Sakura hated being called a chick. "Kisame, don't call her that. She's a young lady. And her name is Sakura Haruno. And yes. This is her." He glanced back at Sakura. "Sakura, this is an old friend of mine. Kisame Hoshigake. We went to school together. He's also a master of the sword." he then motioned to the Rock Lee look alike. "This is Gai Maito. He runs this Dojo and he's a master of the fist. He's going to be teaching you, Sakura."

"Oh." Gai said, his eyes brightened a little as he glanced from Itachi to Sakura. "Miss Haruno, I've heard quite a bit about you. Rock Lee, here, for one." He nodded to Lee beside him. "I also run a Pizza Gallery and he hasn't stopped talking about you."

Beside him, Rock Lee was blushing bright red.

"But Itachi also informed me that you.....you had a little trouble a couple of weeks ago. He hasn't given me the details and I won't ask for them at all. He just said that you need to learn how to defend yourself. So he signed you up for lessons here. Don't you worry, Miss Haruno. We can teach you all of the basics and more, if you like what you're learning." Gai explained.

The tall blue skinned man nodded as he glanced over at Itachi then back to Sakura, who was making a face at the thought of Itachi actually telling someone that she had been attacked by his younger brother. The man, himself just folded his arms over his chest and shrugged. "Well, since me and Itchy's been friends for a long time, he gave me the details." He held up a hand when Sakura's face flushed hot red and she turned to glare at Itachi. "Hey, hey, babe. I made him tell me. And I can tell you one thing, I don't go for that kind of crap. When I find Sasuke, myself," He grinned rather wickedly. "He's going to wish he can take it back. A real man doesn't hurt a woman. So he's just a little boy who don't know how to grow up. Prissy little S.O.B." He remarked, rather evilly.

Sakura drew back a little. "Um, Itachi? Am I going to be okay learning here?" She asked, eyeing Kisame Hoshigaki uneasily.

Itachi, Kisame and Gai all chuckled and shook their heads, while Lee was just smiling as he reached over and placed a hand onto her shoulder. He looked as if he understood a little. "Do not worry, Miss Haruno. You will be safe here. Gai-sensei is known to be a little unusual but he takes care of his students. He will be nice to you. As for Kisame-sensei, he's crude but he means well. He makes me feel uneasy a little too. But he's a good teacher. And if he is a friend of your friend, then it's okay to trust him." He told her. "He has much honor."

"Don't worry about Kisame, Sakura." Itachi reassured her as he glanced over at Kisame then shook his head. "Rock Lee, here, is right about Kisame. He can be pretty crude but he's a real softie for girls. He's got too much honor to hurt a woman. If you trust me, you can trust him."

Sakura took a deep breath as she let everyone's words reassure her but then she nodded as she placed her hands onto her waist. She knew that if she could trust Itachi, then she'd have to trust his words. So she would go with this whole idea for now. If it didn't work out later on, then it didn't. But if it did, she would know how to fight. "Okay then. I think I'm ready then. What's first, sensei?" She asked, sounding amused.

By the end of the day, she was very sore and irritated.

The lessons that Gai Maito and Kisame Hoshigake started Sakura on was pretty tough on her. At first, it was easy. All they made her do was stretch out her muscles first and then run a few laps around the Dojo, which Rock Lee joined her in. He had wanted to stay close to her and get to know her. In the beginning, she had been pretty creeped out by him because of his eyebrows. She had thought he was weird. But as she talked to him, she was starting to like him. In a friendly way, of course. She learned that Rock Lee once had his own troubles, an abused child in a violent family and he had been picked on and bullied because of his eyebrows and sunny personality. But later on, he had been put in the Foster Care program, and that was how he met Gai Maito. Gai had become his foster father and they just clicked, becoming fast friends. Sakura also learned that Lee was the best student that the Dojo had, due to the strong determination he held within himself. He even encouraged her to take on a month's trial.

"Trust me, Miss Haruno. It's worth it. You will learn so much here and you will never get attacked. If anything else, no one would dare to attack you, if they know better." Lee told her.

After running laps, the real work began. Gai instructed her to try and do some push ups and sit ups, which she did with ease until she reached a hundred. That was where she began to tire. Then came the fighting moves. She began to learn how to punch the right way, kick in the air. She even learned how to break out of a tight grip from behind. It was pretty tough though. She was pretty annoyed with Itachi though, since he joined the classes too. She found it irritated how he could do all of the moves that was being taught to her with ease. But then again, he had taken Martial Arts when he was much younger and he had a Black Belt. She just found it irritating that he wasn't getting as tired as she did. By the end of the day, she was pretty sore and she wanted nothing more than to go to bed.

* * *

On Monday, when she returned to work, she was still a little sore. She hadn't known how backbreaking learning Martial Arts could be. She couldn't move without wincing at least once or twice. It had drawn some concern from some of her co-workers and even Sasori had to pause in the hall to look at her with a raised eyebrow as she wobbled a little. He even took the moment to asking if she was all right, which he hardly ever did with anyone else. But she reassure everyone of why she was wobbling and they couldn't help but laugh or shake their heads.

As for her daily visits with her patients, she had, of course, brought an orange for Tobi, which he was very excited to receiving and even begged her to let him share it with her. So they sat together eating oranges and Sakura watched with a smile as Tobi tried to color a picture of her. She had to admit it, he was like a kid, even if he was a grown man. But she really found herself caring about him. Tobi was amusing and she wanted to make sure she could do anything to help him. She even wanted to find out who betrayed him and let him turn out like this. But trying to find out who did this to him would probably be nearly impossible. Only he knew that and when she tried to ask him about it, he got a little distressed which she immediately relieved by giving him another orange. So that was a no go. The visit with Hidan was very short, though. Sakura had entered his room and had only been in there for about a minute before having to leave because he was in a very sour and psychotic mood due to that the voodoo doll he tried to make of her had been taken away. The visit with Pein had been nearly as short too. She entered his room to speak to him and see how he was doing and all he did was sit in the chair from across her and stare dully at her. He refused to answer any of her questions, even though she asked several, trying to get him to talk to her. In the end, it grew a little frustrating for her and all she did was sigh and leave.

But she found herself looking forward to visiting Gaara. She hadn't forgotten about the dream she had the other night, and even last night and felt pretty uneasy about it. But she couldn't help but feel intrigued about it too.

When she arrived at the usual Visiting room, Sakura was surprised to find that she wasn't the only one who was going to visit her patient. Kakashi was there, looking rather serious and business-like. He was carrying a file in his hand that clearly stated that it was probably the ANBU records. She asked him what he was doing there but all he did was shake his head.

"If I'm going to continue this investigation, I need to ask Gaara Sabaku a few questions." Kakashi told her.

So Sakura would grant it. She sat with Kakashi in the room, waiting for Gaara to arrive, which he did in a way she was pleased about. He had just simply walked through the door with no problems at all. He was finally cooperating with them, which the guards were astonished. They had never had him work with them before so they weren't too sure what to expect from him. They had always expected him to be like a savage animal. But for once in years, he was being......well, human, in their opinion.

"Good morning, _Doctor_ Haruno." Gaara said smirking as he walked over to the chair and sat down. His eyes flickered over to Kakashi and narrowed a little but he didn't seem surprised. "I must say I'm surprised to not see Naruto Uzumaki here today with you. I had been expecting him."

Sakura only smiled at Gaara and shook her head as she folded her hands in front of her. She was just happy that he wasn't glaring at anyone today. She could also see that he must have been getting better sleep because the dark rings around his eyes had lightened a little. They weren't so dark anymore. "Naruto is with the rest of my friends sight seeing. They haven't been to Suna before and so they wanted to do a little discovering today. They wanted me to tell you hello for them though." She shrugged before motioning to Kakashi beside her. "Gaara, this is another friend of mine, Kakashi Hatake. He's the ANBU from Konoha that I told you about. He's investigating your father's murder and trying to find his real killer."

"Hmm." Gaara hummed as he glanced over at Kakashi and then frowned when the silver haired man held out his hand as if to shake his own. He stared at his outstretched for a moment. But then he slowly took it and they shook hands, which made Baki's face brighten a little with his own astonishment. "I honestly think you're wasting your time. Even if you do find Yondaime's killer, what will it do for me?"

Kakashi and Sakura glanced at each other, frowning but the ANBU shook his head as he fingered the file in front of him. "We will bring your father's real killer to justice, Mr. Sabaku. And it will solve a crime that you were blamed for. If Sakura thinks you're innocent, then you must be. She truly believes that you are. And I have no choice but to believe her." He told the red head.

Gaara narrowed his eyes but shook his head. "How do you know what she believes is true? What if I did kill Yondaime and I'm just taking you on a wild goose chase." He asked rather blankly.

Both Sakura and Kakashi glanced at one another but the ANBU shook his head. "Then we would have found out the truth about who killed Yondaime Sabaku. We would know exactly what we're up against. Even geese can be caught, Gaara. Other wise, Sakura believes that you're innocent and I'm willing to help her find out the truth about you." He shook his head again. "Now, I've been to the Suna ANBU station and I have been granted access to the crime reports behind you. I've read the reports, read the statements made against you and I have come up with the conclusion that no one even asked you what your side of the story was. Everyone was too scared to asking about what you really did that night, and so," He reached into his ANBU jacket and pulled out a small hand held recorder. "I want to ask you those questions. If you're willing to, I would like you to tell me your side of the story of what really happened that night."

The red haired patient narrowed his eyes to nearly slits and his face grew rather dark. In truth, he did not want to relive that nightmare more than he already did. But his eyes saw the reassuring smile on Sakura's face. She was looking rather hopeful. "Gaara, please. We want to help you. I know you don't like receiving help but I really want to know the truth. Please tell us your side of the story. I've already heard what Temari and Kankuro had to say about it but I want to know what you have to say." She told him.

"......." Gaara grunted before he rolled his eyes and folded his arms over his chest. "Fine. But I'm cursing you from within, _Doctor._ If you weren't growing close to my brother and sister, I would ignore you."

His statement only brought a smile to Sakura's face and Kakashi smirked to himself. He was fully aware of why Gaara was being so cooperative. He wasn't stupid. He had eyes. But choosing not to dwell on it any longer, he just held up the small recorder and hit the small recording button. "This is Kakashi Hatake, Class B ANBU from Konoha recording the questioning and confession of Gaara Sabaku of the murder of his father, Yondaime Sabaku." He then carefully set it down on the table. "Now then, Mr. Sabaku. Here's the first question. I have information from your sister, Temari Sabaku that you had just been released from Corrections Facility and had returned home after a two years' confinement there. Is that true?"

Gaara rolled his eyes but he nodded. "Yes." He said, already knowing the procedure for questionings.

Kakashi nodded in satisfaction as his eyes flickered over to Sakura, who was watching her patient very closely. He knew she wanted to listen carefully to every word that Gaara said about this case. "All right. Next question. It was stated that you had a fight with Yondaime the day he was murdered and you were charged with the murder. What was the fight about?" He asked, simply.

The red haired patient looked away impatiently, looking as if he didn't want to answer that question. He even sucked in some air, sounding as if his patience was wearing thin but he let it out and looked Kakashi right in the eyes. "I wanted out of that damn house. I wanted to open up my own bank account and get my own place so I didn't have to deal with Yondaime. But unfortunately I was under aged and I needed a Legal Guardian's consent. So I had no choice but to turn to Yondaime. But he had so much pride up his ass that he didn't want to help me. I was angry and I told him that if he wanted to get rid of me so much he should just swallow his damn pride and help me open up a stupid account and get an apartment. He didn't like my tone so he tried to get a little violent." He stated dryly.

"What did he do?" Kakashi asked, prying.

Gaara narrowed his eyes but let them flicker over to Sakura, who kept a smile on her face. She was still looking pretty hopeful. Taking another deep breath, he turned his eyes back onto the ANBU. "He tried to punch me. But after spending most of my life getting beaten up by him, I got tired of it. So I stopped him and threatened him."

Kakashi tilted his head to the side, his own eyes narrowing a little but more thoughtfully. "How did you threaten him?" He asked, carefully.

"I told him if he ever hit me again, or my siblings I would break his fucking arm." Gaara said, dipping his head a little lower. His words, however, took Sakura by surprised. She knew she had heard him right. He had said Temari and Kankuro too. But they had never told her that they had been beaten by Yondaime. They hadn't said anything. Gaara saw the interest in both Kakashi and Sakura's eyes and he forced a smirk. "I'm not the only one that Yondaime used to hit. Of course Temari and Kankuro didn't tell you that. Whenever they stuck up for me, he got angry with them and he punished them for it."

No one said anything for a few minutes but slowly both the ANBU and the doctor turned their eyes onto the mirrored window, where they knew that Temari and Kankuro were watching and listening. Even though they couldn't see them, they knew that the two had looked away. But the ANBU took another deep breath before he turned his eyes back onto Gaara. "Next question. After your fight, what did you do? What lead up to the discovery of the murder?" He asked, prying again.

There was a very long silence as Gaara let the questions roll into his mind but then he sat up a little straighter and placed his hands on the table in front of him. He stared at the table for a minute then he looked up at the two watching him. "The night that Yondaime was murdered, after the fight, I went out to the bar and did some drinking. I was so angry with him. I wanted to try and wash my anger away with alcohol. I know that alcohol is not the best way to do it. It actually fuels the rage within one's self. Makes the drinker angrier. It did that with me. I grew angrier with each glass I downed. But if your next question is if I killed Yondaime, I wished I did. I had wanted to kill him. He blamed me for some natural mistake that happened to my mother. Something that can't be helped. He put my life through hell, more than I have had here at the Suna Asylum." He shook his head. "But I didn't kill him. I knew that murder would never be the answer. It only leads to more pain. So I chose the 'so called better' path that eventually lead me to becoming Suna Asylum's most dangerous and insane patient. I went back to that house that I was forced to live in with the intention to demand that Yondaime helped me help him get rid of me. I had the intention to actually talk about it. But when I got to the house, I found him dead on the hall floor." He said very darkly.

Sakura was now watching him with pity in her eyes. She knew that this was probably difficult for him to remember. It was got him into this mess in the first place. But it also made her frown. She wondered if Yondaime had never been murdered and Gaara hadn't been convicted, would she have met him in some other way. Would there have been any chance at all that she met him outside the walls of the Asylum?

"If you would, explain what you saw that night. Please don't leave out anything." Kakashi told Gaara.

Gaara looked him right in the eyes before he slowly looked over at Sakura and stared at her green orbs. "The house was dark. The lights had all been turned off. It was pretty late so I figured that everyone had gone to bed. So I walked across the hall to the basement where my room was kept. However, along the way, I tripped over something and fell to the ground, only to fall into a puddle of something thick." He explained. "I stood up and looked at what it was I tripped over on. It was still too dark so I turned on the light and there he was. I had tripped over Yondaime's body. He was covered in blood and his throat slashed open. The blood was every where. I knew I should have called the ANBU but I also knew that I would be the one blamed for his death. Everyone knew that we hated each other. I would get blamed for Yondaime's death because of my already violent history. So I decided to bury his body in the old sand box. Unfortunately for my part, we have a nosy neighbor. She called the ANBU on me and I was arrested and brought here to the Suna Asylum."

"There wasn't a trial?" Kakashi asked frowning.

The red haired patient nodded. "Oh, there was a trial all right. But it didn't even last long. As it was, I had been blamed for murder of the one man I hated the most in my life. When it comes to someone like me, a violent, psychopath, there is no fair trial. The law simply looks at you, reads all of the statements and pictures of the murdered and then they make up their mind. I was submitted to the Suna Asylum, claimed to be insane." He smirked rather coldly. "And here I am."

Sakura frowned at what was being said but she took a deep breath and looked at Kakashi, wondering what was going through his mind. She wondered if he thought that Gaara was guilty of the murder. She wondered what he could be thinking about the whole case. She didn't know what to make out of it, herself. But she truly believed that Gaara was innocent from what happened to his own father. She knew that he hated his own father and had very good reason for it. The man had condemned his own son for something that happened that couldn't be helped. Hemorrhaging was something that happened. A newborn baby should never be blamed for it. In her opinion, Yondaime Sabaku had been childish by blaming Gaara for his wife's natural death. It had not been murder. So he shouldn't have acted like it was.

There was a very long silence as Kakashi looked right into Gaara's eyes, who stared back. They didn't say anything for a minute but then the silver haired ANBU reached out and picked up the small recorder and stopped it. He rewound it a little to get rid of the silence before hitting record again, but this time he kept a hold of it. "Mr. Sabaku, the day of your father's murder, did you see anything out of the ordinary? Any strangers in your neighborhood or people watching your house?"

Gaara's mouth parted a little as if taken back by the question but then he shook his head as he looked away, rather thoughtfully, yet was no doubt concentrating on the past. "Not that I know of. I wasn't really paying attention to the surroundings of my family's manor. Suna City is a rather popular tourist attraction due to the fact that we live in a desert. There are a lot of night clubs and private clubs. Suna City is also famous for our Belly Dancers. It tends to attract a lot of attention." He informed them.

Kakashi nodded as he looked down at the tape in his hand. "I see. But is there anything you can remember at all? Anything you think that might help us. Even if it is useless information." he said lifting his eyes up to the red head's again.

"......" The patient hummed as he thought hard but then he looked right at Kakashi, his eyes starting to darken. "There was one stranger who was constantly in my neighborhood. A white haired man. I only seen him once or twice near my manor. But it wasn't too suspicious. There was an elderly man living in one of the houses on the other side of the street from my family's manor and he was always in need of a home nurse. My siblings and I were under the impression that the white haired man may have been a male nurse for him." He told them.

The ANBU's eyes narrowed a little thoughtfully before he opened the file a fraction and took something out and then held it up to show Gaara. There was a picture of a white haired man clipped to a informal paper. "Was this him?"

Sakura saw Gaara's eyes light up and look very surprised. He had straightened up in his chair and was staring intensively at the picture. There was definitely some recognition in his eyes. So he must have known who that was. Gaara, however, stared at the picture but then he nodded. "That was him. He is who I'm talking about." He looked at Kakashi with confusion in his eyes. "Who.....?" He was asking.

"His name is Kimimaro Kaguya. He is a mercenary and a professional hit man." Kakashi just interrupted as he set the information down on the table and made a glance over to Sakura, who was frowning with surprise. "Unfortunately, he works with the Government too so if he was your father's killer, then it's going to be hard to touch him. He's highly respected by most. But that's because he's so good at what he does. However, no one knows where he is right at the moment so we can't bring him in for questioning." His head dipped down lower. "Gaara, are you certain this is who you saw the day of your father's murder?" He asked being very careful.

Gaara stared at the picture but he nodded. "That's him. I remember when I first saw him, I was thinking about how pale he looked. He looked pretty sickly when I saw him, but there was something about his eyes. He did see me watching him and all he did was acknowledge me with a nod before going into the elderly man's house. After that, I never saw him again." he told Kakashi.

Kakashi sighed as he reached up and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He seemed a little frustrated but he also seemed calm at the same time. He was no doubt a little tired from the hard work he had been putting in for the last couple of days. "After the death of Yondaime Sabaku, there had been a call from the house near your own, Gaara. The elderly man you're talking about was found dead in the basement. Apparently, he fell down the stairs leading down to his cellar." he looked at Gaara. "I came across that report by chance, just last night. This report had been miss-filed and accidentally placed into your own. I looked into it just to be careful and that's how I came across this picture of Kimimaro. From the medical reports, the elderly man, your neighbor had been dead for nearly a week. Before your father's murder."

Sakura felt a gasp escape her and she clapped a hand across her mouth. Even Gaara looked surprised to hear that. He slowly shook his head as he narrowed his eyes in confusion. "That's impossible. That man, Kimimaro has been going into Mr. Sakewaki's house for almost two weeks, claiming he had been taking care of him. If Mr. Sakewaki had been dead for a week before Yondaime's death then......."

"Then that means Kimimaro Kaguya knew that he was dead." Kakashi said, his eyes narrowing darkly. "And yet he still went into his house." he quickly hit the stop button and pushed his chair out. "Thank you for the information, Mr. Sabaku. Your information has just made us hit a break. If my suspicions are correct, Kimimaro Kaguya probably killed Kinryū Sakewaki and watched your manor for the right moment to murder Yondaime Sabaku. Now, we're going to have to track him down and bring him in for questioning." He smiled tightly at Gaara, who still looked bewildered. "Looks like Sakura might be right about you. You are innocent of murder. And if we can find the proof, you won't be needing to stay in the Suna Asylum any more. Or going to prison. You will be free if I have anything to say about it." He told him before looking at Sakura, who was smiling brightly up at him. "I'll keep you both updated with what I find."

"Thank you so much, Kakashi!" Sakura said happily as she stood up and grabbed his arm, giving it a light, thankful squeeze. Then she looked brightly at Gaara, who still looked bewildered with what just happened.

Kakashi only nodded to both of them before he headed towards the door while pulling out his cell phone and speed dialing a number. He was just barely pulling the door open when his call connected. "Ibiki, I want a man found immediately. I don't care how you do it or whatever red tape you have to cut, but we have to bring Kimimaro Kaguya in." he paused in the doorway, making a face. "I don't give a damn if there's a red light on that man. I have reason to believe he murdered a nobleman from Suna City. Just find the bastard and bring him in now. Yes, I know you're my boss but we're talking about murder and I don't give a shit that Kimimaro is just a hit man. He's still a murderer, no matter what the damn Government says. Just bring him in, god damn it. I'll take full responsibility for it later." He said grumpily before he was out of view.

Sakura just shook her head as she smiled brightly at Gaara, who looked as if he was in a daze a little. The visit with Kakashi and all of the questions and revelations had caught him off guard. "Gaara! Did you hear that?! We might have found your father's murderer!" She said happily.

Still somewhat dazed, Gaara looked up at her with wide eyes.

The door to the mirror room opened and two smiling older Sabaku siblings came in, looking as if it was Christmas. They have, of course, heard and saw the entire thing. In fact, Temari looked as if she was going to start crying with happiness just by what was revealed. She knew very well that they were probably getting their hopes up for nothing but it couldn't be helped. There was a good chance that her little brother would be freed soon enough. "Gaara! I can't believe you didn't tell us about that guy before!" She said full of emotion before grabbing his shoulder and making him stand up. She threw her arms around him and hugged, which he still seemed dazed.

"Man, Sakura!" Kankuro said grinning at the pink haired doctor. "I think I'm in love with you now! You might have saved our brother's ass!"

From the corner of Sakura's eye, she saw Gaara's head jerk over and he started glaring at his older brother while trying to peel his sister off of him. He didn't look particularly happy with Kankuro. But she wasn't too sure. All she knew was of how happy she felt that Gaara might be off the hook pretty soon. "Please, Kankuro." She remarked rolling her eyes and folding her arms across her stomach. "Whatever happened to that girl you met at that club? The cute dark haired one that you were dancing with and seemed to have taken off with." She said smirking.

Kankuro blinked a few times before he suddenly got a grin on his face. It was true that he had met a pretty girl at the night club the other night and they had hit it off pretty well. He had been dancing with both Sakura and Ino next to him when he ran into her. After that, they started talking and then an hour later, they left to do what was no one else's business. "Oh, yeah. Chihiro. And I can't believe I actually remember her name. Usually when I have one night stands, I forget their names. Might not be a one night stand after all though." He just kept on grinning. "Gotta say, I think I might like her more than you though, babe." he told Sakura, looking a little smug. "Sorry, but I have to admit, but I'm cheating on you."

"Shut up, Kankuro." Both Sakura and Temari said but they were both smiling while Gaara rolled his eyes.

It was at that moment, both Chiyo and Madara came in, both smiling as if they were just as happy as everyone else. The old woman looked very pleased, actually. She was no doubt pleased about the results that was starting to fall into place. "Well, well. Gaara, I must say, I was wrong about you then. I had always believed that you did murder Yondaime, but it looks like I was wrong. I realize that I have been foolish to believing anything bad against you. Please, forgive me." She asked of him.

Gaara stared dully at her for a minute but then looked at Sakura, who smiled at him. He felt his face soften a little. He had to admit it but she was something. She was putting full trust in him and he knew he was going to have to trust her right back. She was fighting for the truth behind him and Yondaime's murder. For his freedom and sanity. He had never guessed that anyone would ever try this hard just for him. His lips curving just a little, he lift his head and looked directly into her eyes. "Doctor Haruno, don't we both have an engagement you promised to keep?"

Sakura blinked in surprise, as did everyone else.

But the red haired patient just grinned smugly at her. "Did you not promise Tobi to read to us in another group session?"

"Oh!" Sakura breathed, her face brightening. She had almost forgotten about that. So much had happened that she did forget the promise that she would read to them. She reached up and ran her hand through her hair, trying to think. She hadn't even come prepared for a reading session with her patients. She hadn't even chosen out a book to read to them. She didn't want to make it too childish because these were full grown men that she was reading to. But she also wanted to capture their attention. And that definitely included Hidan and Pein. She knew very well that they would be pretty hard to get their attention. 'Oh, boy. Why couldn't I have remembered about reading to them?' She thought bitterly to herself. But then an idea popped into her head and she smiled brightly at Chiyo. "Ms. Chiyo, can I get some help with getting my patients in a vacant room where I can have my group session?" She asked.

Chiyo just nodded as she looked at Madara and Baki. "Yes. I think we can do that. Baki, you and Shikamaru gather Dr. Haruno's patients and take them to Visiting Room #13." She told the guard, who only nodded before he left the room.

Sakura just turned her eyes onto Gaara, who was watching her with a smirk on his face. She couldn't help but just smile right back at him. She was just glad that he was starting to trust her. Madara, however, smiled and tilted his head to the side as he watched the pink haired doctor. "I'm curious to know, Miss Haruno." He said, catching her attention. "What story would you be reading to your patients?"

Blinking, Sakura looked at him but then smiled as she shook her head as she folded her hands behind her back. She knew exactly what story she was going to tell her patients. It was a story that would definitely capture the attention she wanted. "Oh, I won't be reading a book, Mr. Uchiha." She revealed, surprising everyone. She only smiled even more as she thought about it. "The story I'm going to be telling my patients will captivate them and hold their interest. I know it will. It's a story about adventure, action and romance. It has explosions, and practically undead villains, and humor!" She told them brightly.

"Really? What story is that then?" Kankuro asked, sounding very interested.

Smiling, Sakura held up a finger and shook her head. "A good one! But if you want to hear it, you have to wait like my patients! And if you want to hear it, you'll just have to sit and listen in." She told him. She only laughed when Kankuro started pouting. Temari even joined in as she folded her arms across her chest.

Not too long later, Sakura was sitting in a comfy chair facing her patients, which Hidan and Pein looked highly irritated about the whole situation. They didn't want to be there at all but in their rooms. But both were glaring at the pink haired doctor, while Gaara was giving them both a look of warning. All the while, both Tobi and Deidara looked excited to see her. They were both sitting on both of her sides, looking at her appreciatively. Gaara was sitting only a few chairs away but was watching her with an amused smirk on his face. He looked like he was going to enjoy this and she really hoped so.

"Sakura! Sakura! Baki said you were going to read Tobi a story!" Tobi said excitedly.

Sakura smiled and nodded as she looked at the cheerful, masked patient. She even took his hand and patted it gently. "That's right. Well, I'm not reading you a story from a book. But telling you it." She told him, earning a happy squeal from her friendly patient.

Hidan made a face as he folded his arms and gave her a very dry stare for her words. He only shook his head as he glared at her. "Oh, why the fuck are you telling us a fucking story?! We're not a bunch of kids, you stupid bitch!" He growled at her. He returned the dark look that Gaara and Deidara both shot at the silver haired voodooist. Pein just blankly glanced at him but then turned his eyes back onto Sakura, who made a face at Hidan's foul language.

"Don't you be calling Sakura such bad words, you meanie!!" Tobi yelled as he jumped to his feet and jabbed a finger towards Hidan.

"Oh, shut up, you fucking retard!!" Hidan snarled.

Sakura frowned at Hidan but she grabbed Tobi's arm and made him sit back down, placing her hand onto his head and gently running her fingers through his hair, which he had seemed to like a lot. She just gave Hidan a very stern look for being rude. "Hidan, don't use language like that. I'm telling you a story that even you can't say no to." She told him calmly.

"Oh yeah?! Fucking prove it, bitch!" Hidan snarled again, his eyes very hard on her.

"That will be quite enough of that, Hidan." someone said very sternly, yet the voice was very low, almost like a whisper. But even so, dangerous.

For a moment, Sakura thought it had been Gaara who spoke because he always spoke like that. But when she glanced at him, she saw that he was looking somewhat taken back himself and looking at Pein. All of her patients were. She blinked in surprise before turning her eyes onto Pein next, who had not taken his eyes off of her. But it was clear that he'd been the one who spoke because he spoke again. "Tell your story, Dr. Haruno. Even though I find it childish to be telling insane criminals like us stories, it gives us something to do and think about." The orange haired patient spoke in such a low and dangerous tone. Even Hidan looked surprised that Pein had talked and he was about to retort but the man sitting next to him turned his strange eyes onto him and gave him the most coldest look that even sent a shiver down Sakura's spine.

"Oh." The pink haired doctor said quite taken aback but then she let out a light sigh as if relieved and smiled at Pein when he looked at her. She was just glad that he was finally talking in her presence. He had never spoken a word since she even arrived to Suna and apparently, he never spoke a word to anyone since he even came to the Asylum, according to his files. "Well, Pein. I'm glad that you're talking. I almost began to believe that you couldn't." She admitted, lightly.

Pein just stared lazily at her. "Your story, please, Doctor." He requested.

Blinking several times, Sakura nodded with a smile and took a deep breath. She glanced at Hidan to see if he was going to try and interrupt again but he just folded his arms and glared at the floor. So he was just going to sit there and keep his mouth shut so not to provoke Pein again. "Okay. The story I'm going to be telling you is a wonderful one. It's about one of the greatest adventures ever!" She looked around at all of her patients with bright eyes. "Action and adventure, romance, humor. It's the story," She smiled slyly. "About Pirates."

Now Hidan's attention perked up and he looked at her. "Pirates?" He asked somewhat surprised.

Sakura almost laughed when she saw that everyone looked interested now. Even Pein's eyes had lit up a little as he hung onto her words. She nodded as she folded her hands together, trying to hold in the excitement. "Yes! Pirates of the Caribbean!" She paused for a second as she glanced around at everyone before smiling rather slyly. "Yo, ho. Haul together, hoist the colors high. Heave ho, thieves and beggars, never shall we die. The king and his men stole the queen from her bed and bound her in her Bones. The seas be ours and by the powers where we will we'll roam. Some men have died and some are alive and others sail on the sea – with the keys to the cage... and the Devil to pay we lay to Fiddler's Green! The bell has been raised from it's watery grave... Do you hear it's sepulchral tone? We are a call to all,  
pay head the squall and turn your sail toward home! Yo, ho, haul together, hoist the colors high. Heave ho, thieves and beggars, never shall we die." She recited what seemed to be a code before she tilted her head to the side, glancing around to see if she still had their attention and when she saw that they were still looking interested, she lift her head higher. "A long time ago, when civilization was still rather young, there were stories about pirates roaming the great span of oceans and ruling the wild seas."

And the story she continued with was about how a boy had been found in a ship's wreckage after being raided by pirates, rescued and befriended by a young girl whom he'd fall in love with when they grew up. She told the story about how the boy who became a man was forbidden to love the young girl because was merely a blacksmith while she was a noble lady, even though she loved him in return. The story went on about how she later on was kidnapped by vicious pirates who were cursed and could not die. The young blacksmith eventually had to ask the aid of another pirate, who was clearly not right in the head and even though they had their many differences, they somewhat became friends and joined forces to steal back what was rightfully the pirate's and rescue the woman of the young man's dreams.

The story was really exciting though as she told it. Deidara was particularly excited because there was a lot of explosions as she told them. He even started cheering with Tobi when she told them about a part where both sides had a cannon party, blowing holes in each other's ships and causing explosions from within. They both were pretty excited about that part. Hidan, however, loved the part about the somewhat immortal pirates. Pein didn't look like he was enjoying it but his eyes said other wise. There was just that general interest in them, almost as if he was smirking from within. All the while, Sakura kept glancing at Gaara, finding that he was just as entranced by the story as everyone else. But there was something different about how he was looking at her. Whenever she met his eyes with her own and found him looking deep into her own, she felt something strange. It was like he was searching for something within her green gem like eyes. Perhaps it was her soul he was looking at. It sure felt that way. But there was something else about the way he was looking at her.

As Gaara looked at her, the pretty pink haired doctor felt as if her skin was burning yet it didn't hurt. She felt somewhat flushed as she told them the story about the strong love that the young blacksmith and the lady shared for one another. And as she told them the story, she was picturing herself as the lady and Gaara the young blacksmith.

* * *

In a dark office, the man had picked up his phone and started dialing the number that was written on a small paper next to it with a name above the numbers. Once the phone started ringing, the man sat down in his chair and leaned back, staring at the oil lamp he had set out on his desk. He stared at the small orange flame with his dark eyes narrowed. He listened to the rings in the earpiece, waiting impatiently for who he was calling to pick up. And finally someone did.

_"Hello." _came a smooth young man's voice, yet there was a cough on the other end. The young man on the other end sounded a little sick.

"Kaguya, it's me." came the dark voice of the caller. "We have a serious problem. You've been found out. There is an ANBU from Konoha City who's investigating the murder of Yondaime Sabaku. And yes, I know that case was closed years ago, blamed on that wretched boy, Gaara. But we have a nosy doctor here who's sticking her nose where it doesn't belong. She's requested that her ANBU friend finds out who really killed Yondaime."

_"Hmmm. I still don't see why I should worry. Why don't you just kill her and be done with it?" _

The dark man snorted violently but shook his head as he began tapping his fingers against the wood of the desk. "Because they've already figured out that it was you. The ANBU found the miss-filed information on the old man that you murdered to infiltrate his home and he pieced it together after asking Gaara Sabaku about his side of the story. They don't know that it was our friend who hired you to do it. Yet. But they will find out if this keeps going on. The ANBU has asked for your capture and questioning. I suggest that you disappear completely to the underground. Because if you are caught, I don't trust you enough to not tell the ANBU who it was that paid you a million to assassinate Yondaime and plant the false evidence that it was the boy. You're HIS man, after all. Not mine. And if you leak it out about him, it will only lead right to me. And if that happens, then my plans will be ruined. So you better disappear for a while before I really do make you disappear." the dark man said rather threateningly.

There was a long silence before the called, Kimimaro Kaguya hummed as if amused but didn't seem offended. _"Fine. I shall disappear. But what about the ANBU and the nosy doctor? If they keep digging for information, your plan will probably be found out."_

"Don't worry about them." The man said very darkly. "I will deal with them myself. If they tread way too close to discovering the truth about me and our allies, I will kill Doctor Sakura Haruno and Kakashi Hatake. And then I will kill the Sabakus. You just make sure the ANBU don't find you." And with that said, he hung up before folding his spider like hands together and glared off into the darkness of his office.

* * *

**Author's Note: I think the whole lot of you probably already know what story Sakura told them, don't you? Lol. Okay, honestly, I had no idea what kind of story Sakura was going to read to everyone. I was thinking for hours about what story she was going to tell until I started listening to my Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack CD. While I was listening it, I was thinking about the story in POTC and it just hit me as a perfect story to tell. It was full of adventure and action, romance and explosions. And of course, practically immortal pirates just for Hidan. So I thought it was perfect. I only hope that you'd agree. But I did the best that I could. *shrugs* There was at least a little fluff between Sakura and Gaara. But I can guarantee it, in the next chapter, that's when the fluff really starts to pop out. **

**In the next chapter, Sakura gets a very inappropriate dream. *Grins***


	12. Chapter 12

Title: The Devil's Whisper

Short Summary:  
Sakura is a Psychiatrist for a mental hospital for the Konoha Hospital who then gets moved to her dream job in the Suna Hospital for the Criminally Insane to take care of a very dangerous patient named Gaara. WARNING! Sasuke bashing!!

Pairings:  
Sakura/Sasuke, Sakura/Gaara

Warning: Story contains implied and/ or scenes of: major language, torture, rape, angst, adult scenes, violence and probably more…

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of its characters. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

**Warning!!: Just a head's up. There is a little lemon in this one.**

* * *

**Chapter XII**

Once again, she had that same dream.

Sakura found herself on the black sandy beach, walking along the deep blue and teal waves and looking at the beautiful sunset. It was the same setting, the same clothes she wore and she was on that black sand beach with Gaara Sabaku again. But when she started her dream, something had finally changed. She had opened her eyes to Gaara standing in front of her, watching her with his beautiful teal colored eyes. He was wearing the same outfit as she always seen him in. The black silk shirt and black slacks, making his pale skin almost look silver white against the black.

He was just standing two feet away from her, staring into her eyes.

And like before, when she read her patients a story, she felt as if his eyes were piercing her soul. She felt as if his own soul had entered her body through their gaze and he was searching for hers. She felt as if her skin was burning but it didn't hurt. She felt as if she had fallen into a trance by his hypnotic stare. Her vision certainly looked a little fuzzy as she stared into his sea-foam eyes. She saw his hand move but she couldn't tear her eyes away from his. But she didn't need to. She felt his velvet touch against her cheek and felt his fingers gently press against her skin, now running slowly down her face to her chin. She didn't understand why she was feeling like this. She had never ever felt such feelings before. Not even for when she loved Sasuke. But she certainly felt them now. She felt Gaara's fingers met her chin and then he slowly cupped it into his palm, holding her face within his hand.

'This is it. I'm going to wake up.' She thought miserably. 'Please don't let me wake up yet though. I want to see what happens.' And as if her very own subconscious heard her, she got to see what happened next. She felt her eyes light up a little when she saw Gaara's eyes slowly trail down from her green orbs to her pink lips. He stared at them for a moment before his head came down towards her. As she watched him, her heart sped up and began pounding against her chest. 'Oh......my......is he.....?' She thought. 'Is he going to.....?'

He did.

His head came so close to hers until she felt him press his lips gently against hers. As soon as their lips touched, something exploded within Sakura. She felt hot sparks flare up within her chest and she felt as if she was on fire. She didn't really know what to do, in truth. But her dream self sure did. She felt her arms lift up and then slowly wrap against Gaara Sabaku's neck, holding him close and pressing her own body against his. His own arms slowly rose up and wrapped around her waist, pulling her tightly against hers. In all honesty, their bodies seemed to mold together very well. After a few minutes of just holding each other and keeping their lips together, Gaara bumped her jaw with his own, as if asking her for something. It didn't take Sakura more than a few seconds to realize what he wanted before her body complied. She opened her mouth and allowed his tongue to slip in between her lips, taking it very slow. The kiss turned very passionate as they slowly began to battle for dominance. She heard him moan against her lips, along with her own heartbeat. She could hear her heart just pumping hard and felt it against her chest. And she could even feel his own against her.

They broke the kiss and looked right into each others, looking a little breathless. Their faces were only inches from one another's and their bodies were tightly pressed against each other's. Sakura felt so lost as she stared into those deep pools of teal. She remembered feeling like this the very first time she saw Gaara. But there was something different about his eyes now. They were full of something she did know about.

Lust.

"Gaara......" She heard herself whisper, though it sounded more like a groan.

That devilish smirk curled onto Gaara's handsome face before he swooped down and captured her lips into another explosive kiss. Sakura heard herself gasp as she felt a hot and erotic sensation rush through her. She knew it was lust that she was feeling. She had felt it before with Sasuke, but not like this! This was so much more powerful. She wanted to feel Gaara's hands on her, touching her skin with his fiery touch and sending tingles throughout her entire body. She wanted Gaara. And bad.

And that was when it hit her.

"Gaara!" Sakura gasped as her eyes snapped wide open and she shot up in her bed. She had realized that she had just been dreaming about Gaara and having a VERY romantic dream about him. Her patient! Her so called mentally unstable patient! She had just been fantasizing about him and she had desperately wanted it to be a reality and that was why she forced herself to wake up before the dream grew too out of control.

What didn't help was when she did wake up, she still felt the burning lust within her and she still felt the tingles that Gaara's hands had left against her skin. It felt so real.

"Oh, god." Sakura groaned as she just sat there on her bed, staring wide eyed at the wall. She didn't realize that it was still pretty early in the morning. It was still somewhat dark but there was a gentle light starting to grow from outside. She didn't even realize that Itachi was standing in her doorway, looking at her with bemusement. Not until she blinked several times to register that she was awake. She saw him staring at him, smirking at her with a raised eyebrow. "It-Itachi? Wh-Why are you.....did something happen?" She stammered, flushing hot red. Well, hotter than she already was.

Itachi continued to smirk at her but he shook his head as he leaned casually against her door frame. "You woke me up with all of that loud moaning." He told her, making her blush. "Now, I don't want to know who you were just having a wet dream about, but keep it down, all right?"

"Itachi!" Sakura yelped blushing even hotter, though she was wondering if that was possible.

The long haired Uchiha just grinned at her and shook his head as he dropped his arms but paused to grab her doorknob and started to pull the door closed. He didn't close it just yet but raised a bemused eyebrow at the pink haired doctor. "If I were you, I'd take a cold shower this morning. That way, it'll settle you down a little before you go to work to see _Gaara." _He told her grinning almost wickedly before closing the door.

Sakura sat there for a minute, blinking in surprise before she felt her jaw fall open wide. She realized that Itachi had just pointed something out. He must have heard her groan out her patient's name in her sleep and was mocking her about it. She dropped backwards onto her pillow and stared up at the ceiling with alarm. She knew she was in a lot of trouble. She knew that she wasn't just fantasizing about Gaara in her dreams. She recalled about all the times she had thought about him, which was almost every minute of the day. And she had recalled the story she told her patients and how she had imagined her as the lady of her story and Gaara the heroic blacksmith who defied all odds to rescue the fair maiden he had desperately fallen in love with. She had actually seen herself as the maiden and him the hero. It had been him.

"Oh, god." The doctor whispered before she grabbed her pillow and covered her face so she could scream into it. 'No, no, no, no, no!!!! I cannot be in love with my patient!!!! That is SO wrong!!' She thought to herself angrily.

* * *

Sakura was really jumpy when she went to work at the Asylum and was completely lost in thought. She had to have Itachi drive her that day because she almost backed into another car from being so lost. He thought it was funny, of course and she glared at him the entire way to the hospital. She almost walked into a wall on her way in and Itachi had to grab her arm and lead her to her office, smiling the entire way.

As much as she loved Itachi, it was infuriating of how smug he could act.

Still, her mind was on the dream she had and the feelings she felt within. She had taken Itachi's advice and took a cold shower that morning to help with the feelings, believing that they were just lust she felt from the erotic dream but she realized that the feelings she had for Gaara Sabaku was so much more than physical attraction. She still felt the ache for him even after she got out of the shower. She knew that if anyone else other than Itachi found out about this, she was going to be in serious trouble. She was a Psychiatrist who had just fallen in love with one of her patients.

End of story; this was not going to end well.

Sakura began her day in the normal routine. She went to her office, thanks to Itachi, who was still being smug about the whole ordeal that he caught her red handed having a dream about Gaara. He didn't even seem to care at all that she had been fantasizing about Suna Asylum's most dangerous patient. He seemed very, very, VERY amused. Too amused for Sakura's pleasure.

After reaching her office unscathed, Sakura began sorting through her paper work, though she was very distracted. She couldn't get the images of her kissing Gaara out of her head. She couldn't get his beautiful eyes out of her mind. His devilish handsome face. His lips. She almost cried out in frustration as she felt the hot sparks flaring up within her again. 'God! I hate hormones!!' She thought savagely to herself. She flipped Itachi off when she heard him laughing at her door. She loved him so much but he was just being irritating to her feelings right now. She ditched him after awhile, asking him to just go bother someone else while she worked. Laughing, Itachi decided to respect her wishes and went off somewhere else.

Sakura, of course, began her visits with Tobi. She took him an orange, hoping that visiting him would make her forget about the dream about Gaara. She had hoped that his cheerful attitude would make her forget her red haired patient for a little while.

Sakura was sorely disappointed when she found that Gaara was still in her head by the end of the visit.

Next, she went to see Hidan, which was once again a little short. Hidan was in a psychotic mood again, but this time he was being very happy about it. Apparently he hadn't forgotten her story so easily and was pretending to be an undead pirate. So when she entered his room, she had to give him a weird look when she saw him attempting to turn his bed into a pirate ship.

The next visit was with Deidara, who, like Hidan, hadn't forgotten about Sakura's story so easily. But instead of ripping up his bed and trying to make a pirate ship out of it, he was making little clay models of ships and even making tiny figures of pirates. He was actually being pretty constructive about the whole ordeal. When he saw Sakura, the blonde grinned up at her and held up a pirate ship for her. "See, un?! I'm making the ship from your story!" He had said brightly.

Sakura had to laugh as she took the clay ship from him and admired it before handing it back. "Good, Deidara!" She said brightly and watched as he placed the ship off to the side before picking up a tiny ball that could only be a cannonball. "What are you doing?" She asked with amusement.

The blonde grinned at her before holding the tiny cannonball near the ship and made it face the other pirate ship. "The wicked pirates were trying to attack the good pirates, un? See, see? So, therefore, the good pirates must defend their ship! Watch!" he told her before pointed at the other ship, which must have been the bad pirates' ship. "FIRE!!" He then bellowed before making an explosion sound and directing the clay ball towards the bad ship and slammed his hand into it, destroying it. The blonde patient continued making explosion sounds before slamming his fist on ship and flattening it.

It really couldn't be helped.

Sakura laughed and shook her head as she folded her arms. She knew she should have been a little worried with Deidara's destructive behavior but she found it cute. Deidara just had that thing about him that was just too adorable. It was the same thing with Tobi. 'If they're seriously going to be doing this just because of a story about pirates that I told, I could only wonder what they're going to do next if I told them a story about Space explorers.' She thought to herself.

By the end of the visit with Deidara, Sakura was surprised to receive a present from him. The blonde had decided to give her the good pirates' ship. She had thought he wanted to do what he normally did, destroying his art work to create a new one but not this time. He had wanted her to keep the clay pirate ship.

It was time for the visit with Pein.

Sakura was a little nervous by now. She wasn't sure how this visit was going to go. But it wasn't just visiting Pein that had her nervous. It was the fact that she was visiting Gaara Sabaku, himself right after this one. Still she was that Pein had actually talked in her presence the day before and she really hoped that he'd talk to her again today. She wasn't too sure though. He didn't seem like the kind that liked company too much. He never really had visitors other than herself.

Boy, was she shocked when she didn't find him in his room but a private visiting room.

It had taken Sakura a short while to find out where her patient had gone and Shikamaru had found her and told her that Pein finally had a visitor, which came as a shock. She surely hadn't expected that at all. She followed Shikamaru to the visiting room where Pein was said to be and she was surprised to see Pein inside with a very beautiful blue haired woman dressed in a sexy black dress pressed tightly against the wall, obviously in an intimate moment. The woman looked almost like a model, or at least she could have been passed as one. She wore a snow white flower in her hair.

Sakura's face suddenly started burning as she watched how these two kissed passionately and watched as their hands started to travel all over each other's bodies. And she saw that she wasn't the only one who froze in mid step. Shikamaru froze in the door way of the mirrored room connected to the visiting room and stared with wide eyes. So he obviously hadn't known that that was going to happen. Sakura blinked a few times, feeling very embarrassed for seeing her patient's little.....predicament. Though she was wondering if Pein was even allowed to do stuff like that with a visitor. But hearing sniggering, she glanced over to see some guards watching through the mirror glass and saw them laughing and smirking in their own little sick ways. They obviously were here for the show.

Frowning darkly, Sakura marched over with Shikamaru and touched a button on the wall, which allowed a thick screen to fall quickly, blocking their view of what was going inside.

"HEY!" Several of the guards exclaimed in anger as they looked up at who just ruined the show. "What do you think you're doing, bitch!?!"

Sakura glared right back at them with her fists on her waist. She felt pretty embarrassed to have seen the brief scene between her patient and his obvious lover but she was pretty sure that these guards weren't even suppose to be watching. "Have a little respect, boys. That is obviously something private and I can guarantee you that Pein would probably kill you for watching them if he knew about it." She said darkly.

The guards kept glaring at her and one even stood up, looking rather threatening. But he immediately stopped when Baki showed up in the room, who blinked only once at the guards before he too started glaring at them. He obviously had heard someone yelling and came to see what was going on. "What the hell are you guys doing in here?!" He demanded before glancing over at Sakura, somewhat surprised to see her. But then he shook his head as he glared at the guards. "You know the damn rules, men! When Nagato's visitor comes for her visit, they are allowed some privacy!!" He then motioned them out of the room. "Get the hell out of here!!" He yelled at them.

Grumbling, the men left the mirrored room.

"Baki," Sakura began, glancing over at a somewhat blushing Shikamaru. He was obviously still taken back a little on the scene they just saw. She felt herself blushing a little but still felt confused by the situation. "I don't get it. Who is Pein's visitor and why.....why....well......?" She stammered.

Baki rolled his eyes with a sigh as he folded his arms and shook his head. "I see no one actually informed you about your patient's situation. Of course. We're sure doing that a lot lately." He shook his head once again. "That young miss is Konan Tenchi. She's, as you already can tell, Nagato's girlfriend. She gets to visit him every four months to see him. And she has kindly asked for permission for private visits with Nagato. Chiyo granted that permission, so don't worry. Miss Tenchi never causes problems and never brings anything that could help your patient to cause trouble. They only do what they want to with each other and we've had no problems with it before. So we allow them to.....well, do whatever for an hour and a half. Of course, Miss Tenchi always goes through a full search to make sure she doesn't have anything dangerous on her person or that will help him try and escape." He sighed again. "I'm sorry, Dr. Haruno. I thought you knew about this. Looks like I have another thing to complain to Ms Chiyo about."

"Um.....what about my visit.....with......Pein?" Sakura asked still a little pink.

Baki only shrugged as if it was no big deal. "Well, seeing that he's a little busy, you're probably just going to have to skip the visit today. Ms Chiyo will more than likely say that. You can just move on to your next patient."

Sakura flushed as she thought about who was next on her list. 'Oh, god. Gaara's next, isn't he?' She thought miserably before she placed a hand against her forehead and was already moving towards the elevators. She was so not looking forward to this, but then again, she was. She wanted to see her absolutely gorgeous patient but then she didn't. She knew that the dream she had the night before was going to complicate things.

"Eh.....Sakura?" Shikamaru remarked, with a raised eyebrow. "Are you all right?"

The pink haired doctor blinked a few times out of her thoughts before glancing over at Shikamaru. She had almost forgotten that he was there and he was suppose to escort her. She took a second to register what he just said before forcing a smile. "Oh, yeah. I'm fi-fine."

"Are you sure?" The lazy genius asked, raising his eyebrow even more. "Cause you're all red." He then smirked as if he realized why. He wasn't entirely sure who she was thinking about but he knew it had to be romantic thoughts going through her mind. "Not having dirty thoughts about someone, are you?" He asked slyly.

"Shut up, Shikamaru! No, I am not!" Sakura snapped at him, but she was still blushing hotly.

Shikamaru only laughed before reaching over and softly shaking her shoulder a little. "Come on, Haruno. I'm teasing you. It's just you seem so lost right now. Are you sure you're okay?" He asked, smirking.

Sakura took a deep breath as she tried very hard to calm herself. She knew that she couldn't let anyone find out about how she felt about Gaara. She knew it would only cause a lot of problems. She knew that Itachi knew about her feelings but she also knew he wasn't going to say anything about it. He'd just more than likely tease her about it, himself. But he would never tattle tale on her. She took a deep breath before forcing a smile to Shikamaru. "I'm fine. I've just had a lot on my mind lately." She told him. His only reply was a nod. Taking another deep breath, Sakura headed to the elevators. "Okay. Let's head on down to see Gaara."

Again, Shikamaru rose an eyebrow at her as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "Uh....didn't you get the memo in your office?" He received a blank look from Sakura. "Gaara's been moved out of the Isolation. He's in a room up here now. He doesn't need to be in Isolation anymore because he's been behaving lately. He hasn't had any problems at all. So they moved him back into his old room on this floor." He told her.

Blinking in surprise, the pink haired doctor then looked in her papers to see what she would find and she almost slapped herself in the forehead to see that there was a memo in Gaara's file about him moving rooms. 'God!! Clear your god damned head, Sakura Haruno!! You're letting that dream get to you!' She thought angrily to herself.

* * *

The new room where Gaara was staying was not too far away from where Tobi's room was at all. It was just right around the corner, actually. Sakura was surprised to find it close to where all of her patients were being kept. She had let Shikamaru take her to the room where Gaara was being kept, though she was trying very hard to keep her distracting thoughts out of her head. She felt very nervous about facing Gaara after having that dream and getting caught by Itachi. In truth, she felt very uneasy. She wasn't too sure if she was going to be able to concentrate with Gaara's gorgeous sea-foam eyes on her.

Stopping outside Gaara's new room, Sakura pulled out her keycard and took a deep breath. She knew she was shaking a little and she was pretty sure that Shikamaru had noticed because he was staring at her with a raised eyebrow. She tried to smile at him but it was clearly forced.

"Sakura, seriously. Are you feeling okay?" Shikamaru asked sounding concerned now.

Sakura just forced her smile and nodded as she fought herself from hyperventilating. She knew she couldn't let Shikamaru know about her uneasy and erotic feelings for her most dangerous patient. "I.....I'm fine. I just haven't been feeling too well. But I think it's best if I talk to Gaara.....um.....alone." She told him. She was now screaming at herself from within. 'Alone?! Are you crazy?! He's going to add two and two together now, you idiot!!' She thought.

But to her relief, Shikamaru nodded as he turned away. "Okay. No danger in that. Since you two get along anyway. I'm just going to go on my rounds, all right? See you later." He told her before walking off.

Sakura stared wide eyed after him. That was too easy. She had really thought that he was going to refuse and state that it was against the rules to let a doctor be alone with a dangerous patient. But she was starting to realize that Gaara wasn't exactly as dangerous as everyone thought he was. Especially with her. He never did anything to hurt her and that was making everyone feeling easy about her safety.

Groaning a little, Sakura had started wishing that she hadn't said that before. But it was too late now. So she ran her card through and entered the room. And then she froze at the sight inside.

The room was lit up by the window, and not as dark. It was exactly like the other rooms; painted white with a bed leaning against the wall, a small toilette for Gaara's use and a small sink. There was also a desk facing the window and that was where Gaara was. The red haired patient was staring outside with a vacant look on his face. His hands were folded behind his back and there was such a peaceful look on his face.

'That look on his face,' she thought with surprise. 'It's the same look he wears in the dream!' She was in a panic now. She had to fight herself not to think about the dream. 'Clear mind, Sakura! Have a damn clear mind! Do not think about how sexy he looks, damn it!' Of course it didn't help very well when she entered the room and lightly closed the door, which clearly caught her patient's attention. He turned his head towards her and let his teal eyes find hers before that infuriating devilish smirk curled on his face. The same one from her dream. 'DAMN IT!!'

Gaara slowly turned towards her and moved a little closer to her, which only made Sakura grew tense. He didn't seem to notice how stiff she had just gotten. He only stared directly into her eyes as he moved to stand only two feet away from her. "Hello, _Doctor _Sakura." He said in a low voice, which was almost husky to her ears.

"Ah.....ah.....h-hello, Gaara." Sakura said, cursing herself for stuttering.

Just hearing her stammer a little, Gaara frowned and rose an eyebrow at her, much like Shikamaru had. He seemed to finally realize how stiff she had gotten. He looked her over and noted how pale she was now. Frowning a little more he looked into her eyes. "Doctor, are you feeling all right? You look as if you're going to be sick." He smirked a little. "You're not going to throw up on me, are you?" He asked, teasingly.

'No! I feel like I want to throw you on the bed and do very inappropriate things to you! Problem is, you're my god damned patient!' Sakura thought but she forced herself to shake her head and take deep breaths to try and slow her thumping heart. "No, Gaara. I'm okay. I've just been......a little stressed out lately." She told him, trying to smile.

Gaara stared at her but then smirked that devilish smile. "Really? Stress isn't very good for a doctor such as yourself. It fogs up the mind and makes it hard to concentrate." He then reached out and grabbed her arm, which startled her a little. But he ignored the fact that she jumped as he just pulled her over to the chair by the next and made her sit down. "Here. Let's do something about it." He stated before placing both hands on her shoulders.

"Gaara, that's all right!" Sakura said uneasily as she tried to push herself back to her feet but she only got pushed back into the chair. "Gaara, no. That's okay. I can deal....."

The red head scowled at her. "Since when were you such a wimp, Doctor?" He asked dryly, which earned a scoff from her. He ignored her as he placed his hands onto her back before he began massaging them. He grinned when he heard her hiss sharply as his knuckles found a knot on her back. "Feels good, doesn't it?" He asked tauntingly.

'You have no fucking idea!' Sakura wanted to tell him but she just settled for a sharp intake of breath as she closed her eyes and bent her head forward. She felt his hands working on her muscles and it felt so good. She knew that she should stop him before something bad happened. But his hands on her back felt so good and it was just stirring up many tingles in her. 'God, this is such a bad idea. I shouldn't let him massage my back.'

**'Then why aren't you stopping him?' **came Inner Sakura's voice.

Sakura felt like smashing her head against the desk to shut up her inner voice. She knew this was a very, very, very bad idea. She had romantic feelings for Gaara Sabaku. She knew she did. And if she continued to let him massage her back, she was going to slip into a state where there was no way of returning. "Gaara, I really shouldn't let you......."

Gaara pressed hard against a large knot in her back, which earned him a sharp hiss. He couldn't help but smirk as he listened to her protests. He found it almost too amusing to hear her making sounds like she was. They were almost intimate and he found it very enlightening. "Seriously, _Doctor_ Haruno. You really shouldn't work so hard and relax a little. You are so tense." He told her in an amused voice.

The pink haired doctor opened her eyes a fraction and looked straight at the wall. 'You really have no idea what the hell you're doing to me right now, Gaara!' She wanted to yell at him. But she settled with a light moan when he touched a very sensitive area, an area that really turned her own. That was when she freaked. "Gaara, that's enough!" She said with irritation before she pulled away from him and stood up sharply. She whirled around and gave him a look of panic but quickly turned away from him as she hurried across the room, keeping her back to him. She could feel his eyes on her.

In all honest truth, Gaara was completely taken by surprise. He knew that she'd been at least a little uncomfortable but hadn't thought she might react like that. Now that he was really paying attention to her, he noticed how pale she was, yet how her neck was pretty red; flushed. He tilted his head to the side and rose an eyebrow. He knew something was wrong with his doctor. "Are you all right?" He asked, a little confused.

"God, I am really starting to get tired of everyone asking me that today." Sakura couldn't help but groan between her teeth as she covered her face with both hands. She was starting to wish that she called in and pretended that she was sick just so that she could hide the fact that she was feeling A LOT of sexual tension right now. She sighed before going to the wall and pressing her forehead against it, letting the cool temperature attempt to cool her off a little. She could still feel Gaara's eyes on her back and she knew that he must have been way beyond confused by her temper right now.

In deed Gaara was. He was staring at her for a long moment, his eyes squinted a little in thought. He had never really seen his beautiful doctor act like this before. He knew something was wrong with her and he realized that he really hadn't helped her mood very much. But all he could wonder was why was she being so tense. Slowly, he chanced to walking closer to her until he stood directly behind her. He saw her grow very stiff but he didn't pay too much attention. All he could do was place his hand onto her shoulder, which she became very stiff under. Slowly, he made her turn around to face him and she allowed him to. Her green eyes looked right up into his teal ones, and his breath caught when he saw how dazed they look. They were clouded with an emotion that took him a few seconds to recognize. He had seen that kind of look before and it made his lips twitch, threatening to turn into a smirk. He realized exactly what was wrong with his beautiful doctor. "Oh." He breathed before his lips curved upward and his head dipped down a little without meaning to. "Well, well. Miss Haruno, is there something you need to tell me?" He asked, way too amused.

Sakura felt her heart start pounding like a jackhammer against her chest and she felt a frustrated groan rise right out of her throat. She knew he was catching on very quickly. "N-no, Gaara. Of course not. I just....I'm just really......" She was saying but then shook her head as she stepped off to the side to move around Gaara and get away from being trapped near the wall. "I just.....eek!" She gasped sharply when she felt his hand grab her arm and she was suddenly pinned against the wall.

Gaara had grinned when he saw how flustered she was getting and when she tried to move away, he couldn't help but reach out to grab her arm and push her against the wall. He didn't hesitate at all as he placed his hands against the wall on either side of her head, and yet move a step closer until their bodies were merely inches apart. "It's not very nice to lie to me, Sakura." The handsome red head told her in a husky tone, his breath brushing against her cheek. He then lowered one hand until he gently touched her face with his fingers, lightly brushing her skin. He grinned devilish like when her eyes fluttered a little at his touch but then opened wide with nervousness as he cupped her face into his palm. "And do you honestly think I'm stupid? Or dense? I might have been living in this insane hospital for nearly eight years, but I do know what that kind of emotion looks like. I have read books. I have seen movies with strong romance in it. I know what lust looks like." He whispered to her, his face moving ever so dangerously closer to hers. "So.......the good doctor has been having some naughty thoughts about me? I'm flattered."

Sakura blushed furiously but she shook her head as she found herself hyperventilating. "I am not, Gaara. I've just been......" She growled in her own defense.

"Stressed out?" Gaara asked smirking dangerously at her. "Why don't we see about that?"

And before Sakura knew it or could do anything to stop it, her patient swooped down and captured her mouth with his own. It literately came crashing down upon hers and when it did, fireworks exploded. No, not fireworks. Missiles and silos, and perhaps a star or two exploded, creating a super nova in Sakura's little world. Because one thing was for certain, she totally spun right off her own axis. She gasped sharply, opening her mouth wide for breath and he decided to steal it from her by plunging in. He began to explore her mouth immediately while his hands slid down from the wall and found her hips. He grabbed a hold of them and pressed his own against hers, while practically pinning her to the wall.

Sakura had been shocked by Gaara's actions but she really couldn't stop her body from reacting. She found herself kissing him right back while her arms wrapped around his neck and her hands entangled with his hair. She couldn't stop herself from moaning into his mouth as she felt his tight grip on her thighs and a little pressure into her core down there. She winced in their kiss and tried to pull away. "Gaara........" She said breathlessly. "We.....we really shouldn't do this....we can't......"

The dangerously handsome red head just smirked at her as he pressed himself even closer to her. "Yes. We shouldn't. But you can't possible say that you don't want to and look at me like that." He told her as he moved closer to her face again before attacking her neck with fiery kisses.

The pink haired doctor whimpered as her head pressed back into the wall and her eyes fluttered close. She had to admit it, but his lips against her skin felt so good. She knew she was starting to slip into submission. 'God.....' She thought helplessly. 'I hate hormones.' But she tried to fight her own feelings, trying to place her hands onto Gaara's shoulders to push him back. "Ga-Gaara......stop. This is.....this is so wrong." She nearly whispered. "I'm your doctor. Your Psychiatrist. I can't......"

"You still haven't denied it that you don't want this." Gaara said as he grinned into her neck. He felt her swallow hard and felt her heart starting to pound in between them.

Swallowing harder than the first time, Sakura slowly shook her head as she let her hands fall along Gaara's arms and she gripped them, pushing lightly at him, trying to get him away. And she was relieved that he pulled away a little, giving her a little more room to look up into those hypnotic, no doubt lust filled eyes. "It doesn't matter what I want, Gaara. Believe me, and I'm being honest with you, I want this more than anything right now."

"So what's the problem?" Gaara asked now dryly, his eyes narrowing a little

Sakura shook her head as she looked deeply into his eyes, feeling her entire world shattering because of those beautiful eyes. She was having a very hard time being coherent. "The problem is, you are my job. I'm here as your doctor and I'm suppose to help you. What we're doing right now, it's inappropriate."

Gaara snorted as his lips curved back into it's dangerous smirk before he reached up and wrapped a hot hand around her thin wrist. He held onto it while looking into Sakura's eyes. "Inappropriate? You think this is inappropriate? No. What's inappropriate is the fact that ever since I even saved your tight little ass from that fuck head boyfriend of yours, I can't stop thinking about you." He shook his head as he lowered her hand in between them. "And this is the results of every thought that goes through my head because of you." He said dryly before pressing her hand against his groins.

The pink haired doctor's eyes snapped wide open when she felt the large bulge against her hand. She realized exactly what was happening to Gaara. He was hard as a rock in the nether places. "Oh....my god...." She whispered before trying to pull back her hand, which she was grateful that he released her hand. She pressed that hand against her chest, trying very hard to slow down her heart.

"You see?" Gaara asked, now blankly. "Every fucking time you come near me or when I see you, this is what happens. And it doesn't help that I dream about you every fucking night on that god damned beach."

Surprised, Sakura looked at him with wide eyes. "Beach?!" She breathed in shock. "The black sand beach by the blue and teal ocean?"

Not it was Gaara's turn to look slightly surprised. He had almost missed it and almost retorted with a sharp 'yes' but when her words sank into his mind, he froze. His eyes met hers, looking just as surprised as she did. He stared at her for a long moment before he dipped his head into a nod. "The black sand beach and the sapphire and teal ocean. I'm standing all in black, looking at the golden sunset."

"And I'm wearing a green bikini, walking down the shore." Sakura added almost breathlessly.

They stared at each other with wide eyes for a very long time before Gaara moved back a step. "And then I walk up to you and kiss you."

Sakura slowly reached up and covered her mouth with her hand. She couldn't believe this. She couldn't believe what was just revealed to her. She and Gaara had been having the very same dream with the same details. She had heard of this sort of thing happening before. And she had heard of at least one rumor of what it could mean. 'But that's impossible. We can't be......' She thought shaking her head before she slid against the wall and sat down on the end of Gaara's bed. "We're dreaming of each other being romantically involved." She breathed in shock before making a pained look. "Oh, god. I am so going to get fired for this."

Amused, Gaara smirked down at her as he turned a little to stand in front of her before he slowly bent over her and made her look up at him. "Not really. You can't really get fired for just having a little kissy kiss dream with me, Sakura." He spoke in a very husky tone.

Then he grinned almost wickedly before he moved closer to her, pushing her backwards onto his bed and straddling her. He grinned even more as he captured her wrists in his hands and pinned them beside her head, while she was looking up at him with shock. She had yelped a little after being pushed against the bed but found herself silenced immediately as her patient pressed his lips against hers, thrusting his tongue into her mouth when her lips opened. He was only too satisfied when she groaned into his mouth and kissed him right back. And while she was distracted, he released her wrists and ran his hands down her front, pausing them both over the small mounds on her chest. He gave them both a light squeeze, which heard him a moan from the beautiful woman under him. And that just egged him on to letting his hands fall the buttons of her blouse, unbuttoning them.

Sakura was just so caught up in the moment of their explosive kiss. She had completely forgotten exactly who they were and where they were because of how good it felt to have someone's hands roaming her body. And not just someone. Gaara Sabaku, a very handsome but dangerous man who clearly could blow up a star with the way he was kissing. She didn't realize that he was unbuttoning her shirt and pulling it back to reveal her creamy skin and black satin bra. She didn't realize that one hand was still trailing down to the hem of her skirt and pulling it up. All she knew was how of good it felt to have his lips leaving fiery trails against her lips, down her face and to her neck. She leaned her head back with her eyes closed as she felt his fiery kisses make their way down to the valley of her chest. Never had she ever felt this good with anyone. Not even Sasuke, whom was completely forgotten in her mind right now. Her mine was only on this handsome red haired man who seemed to have melted her mind.

That is until she felt his hand slid into her underwear and inserted a finger into the folds of her womanhood.

Sakura could not stop herself from moaning loudly, only to be shushed immediately by Gaara as he captured her lips again with his own. She just reached up and grabbed his biceps, digging her fingers into them as she felt his finger slid in deep, touching her from within.

"Shhh." Gaara hissed huskily into her ear as soon as he was sure she was going to be quiet. He had trailed kisses down the side of her face to her ear, where he began to nibble her skin with his teeth. He smirked as he watched how flushed she was getting as he let his finger slowly began thrusting in and out of her. "This, my lovely little doctor, you can get fired for. So you best try and be quiet." he then smirked as he pulled slightly away and looked into her deep green eyes which were only half closed. "If you can."

And then he thrust three fingers into her.

It took everything Sakura had to make sure she didn't scream. She had to bite her lip hard to keep herself from making any noise, all the while she reached up behind him and dug her fingers deep into his back, which he hissed between his teeth before deciding to attack her neck with his hot kisses again. He nibbled her neck and tasted her flesh with his mouth. He couldn't help but grin as he tasted strawberries on her. 'She does taste good. So I was right.' He thought to himself as he continued his ministrations. He heard her whimper as he continued which just made him harder in the groin area.

This continued for a minute before Sakura came into his hand, which made him grin down at her as he slowly pulled out his wet hand out and held it up between them. She was panting by now while looking up at him with heavy eyes. Gaara smirked down at her in his evil little way before he placed his wet fingers into his mouth, licking off the juices. "Well, Doctor Haruno." He spoke between licks before lowered his hand again into a fist beside her head. "Having naughty thoughts can be fun, can't they be?"

"God......." Sakura panted before blinking herself back into reality. She then felt her face drain of color. "Oh, god! Gaara!" She said before shoving him right off of her beside her. She tried to climb off the bed, but felt her knees gave out and she collapsed back next to him, which he started chuckling at. He grabbed a hold of her arm and he was above her again, pinning her into place. Sakura was trembling with fear now and looking wide eyed up at him. "We shouldn't have done this! I am so going to get into so much trouble! Oh, god!" She gasped as she tried to push him off but he wouldn't budge.

"Relax, Sakura. You won't get into trouble if no one knows about it." Gaara said smirking down at her. Then placed his fingers against her cheek, which stirred up feelings again within her.

Sakura shook her head as she reached up and grabbed his hand, pulling it away from her face, and glaring up at him. "Gaara, this isn't funny. I'm your damn doctor and you are my patient. We should have never done this. This is completely wrong in so many ways! I can get fired for this! And then charged with taken advantage of you!"

"If I didn't know any better," Gaara said grinning down at her. "You're the one on the bottom and I'm the one on top. So if anyone was taking the advantage, it would have been me."

The pink haired doctor glared harder at him before she pushed at him, making him get off of her so she could sit up. She swung her legs around over the bed and she gripped the sides of the thin mattress. She felt completely stupid for letting her patient's good looks and devilish smirk and......gorgeous eyes of sea-foam trick her into doing something like this. She knew that if anyone ever found out about this, she would get into so much trouble. "Jesus. I am so going to get fired for this. I am so going to lose my job and my reputation. All just because I had to have a fling for one of my patients. I am so going to die for this." She groaned before burying her face into her hands.

Gaara watched her for a second before he moved to sit right beside her and wrap an arm around her waist, pulling her against his side. "Sakura, I might be some patient in an Asylum and clearly the one that no one wants to fuck with, but trust me. You won't lose your job over this." He reassured her. "Because if you do," He smirked wickedly. "I can guarantee you that I will have something to say about it. I will not work with anyone else but you. I will not talk to anyone but you. If they try and get me a new doctor, I will make that doctor's life a living fucking hell until they reinstate you to me." He reached up with his other hand and made her lower her hands so she could look at him. "No one will fuck with me or you. Got that? Because I will not allow it. And I know that my sister, Temari will not fire you for this."

"How do you know that, Gaara?" Sakura asked quietly, her eyes down cast again. "How do we both know that she won't explode with anger and toss me out on my ass the minute she finds out that we....we did this?"

Grinning his devilish grin, Gaara let his eyes flicker past her towards the door before looking back into Sakura's eyes. "Because she's standing at the door now, glancing through the small window now and blocking anyone else from looking in here." He simply told her.

Sakura's eyes snapped wide open before she whirled around and looked at the door. She had forgotten about the small windows on each of the doors. Anyone could have easily looked in and saw what had just happened between her and Gaara. And worst, the back of Temari's head was in plain view, covering the window. The blonde was glancing around vigorously before turning to look through the window at the two. And when she saw them looking up at her, she narrowed her eyes almost dangerously at them both before holding up three fingers, stating they had three minutes to finish with their little 'visit' before getting the hell out of there. Then she went back to blocking the window with her head.

"Oh, god!" The pink haired doctor gasped covering her mouth before she bolted to her feet and moved to the other side of the room. She pressed herself against the wall as tears began to swell in her eyes. "She saw us! She saw us, didn't she?! I am so dead! She's going to kill me!" She paused to look down at her blouse before flushing hot red to see that it was completely unbuttoned. She quickly began buttoning it back up and fixing herself to look professional again, only that she looked like she was panicking. And she was.

Gaara smirked as he climbed off the small cot and moved over to her, placing a hand against the wall beside her head and looking into her terrified gaze. "She won't. She knows I'll be pissed if she does anything to you. Besides, she likes you. If she was pissed about what we just did, she would have been in this room the very second she saw what was happening, yelling her lungs out." he shook his head as he reached up and touched her face. "Sakura, just trust me. I know my own sister a lot better than you do. She's not angry." He tried to reassure her.

Sakura looked into his eyes, still terrified out of her wits. "Gaara......we.....we shouldn't have....I shouldn't have....." She stammered. "I'm your doctor."

"And pretty damn good one." Gaara said with a light growl within his throat. "If you can stop Tobi from throwing a huge fit and get Pein to talk to you, you're too good to get rid of." He cupped her face with his hand and pressed his forehead against hers. "And if you can quiet down Shukaku from within my head and get me to stop trying to kill everyone, you are the best. Temari and Chiyo would have to be crazier than me to fire you for something I did. I took advantage of you. It wasn't the other way around. And I'm not sorry for it. I'm not going to apologize." He grinned devilishly at her. "And you better come back tonight for more. Because I can guarantee you, I'm not done with you yet."

"Gaara." Sakura scowled at him but a smile was tugging at her lips.

The door opened and Temari's head popped in, looking at them with a hard look. She watched them for a second as they turned sharply to look at her before backing away from one another. Her eyes only narrowed directly at Sakura before she extended her finger and beckoned Sakura towards her. "Get your ass out of there now, Sakura. Right now." She said darkly.

Gaara growled as he immediately reached up and grabbed Sakura's arm, who looked as if she was going to start having a panic attack, herself. "Temari." He hissed warningly.

"You shut the hell up, Gaara." Temari growled right back at him, her eyes flashing at him. She continued to beckon Sakura towards her. "You both are so fucking lucky that it was just me and Shikamaru who saw you groping each other." She hissed very quietly, which only made Sakura grew very pale. "Sakura, come on!"

Sakura looked up at Gaara, who looked back at her but she took a deep breath and gave his hand a light squeeze as she shook her head and hurried towards the door to Temari. She flinched a little when she heard Gaara growl when his sister grabbed her arm and pull her out of the room. And she flinched even more when the blonde slammed the door before dragging her down the hall. She glanced over to see a very flushed Shikamaru standing off to the side and looking around to see if anyone was watching them before tending to follow them at a swift pace. Temari dragged Sakura right to the elevators, gripping her arm tightly as they waited for a minute to climb on before taking the elevator to the offices, where she proceeded to drag Sakura, with an uneasy Shikamaru following them, to the pink haired doctor's office. Once there, the blonde sponsor pulled Sakura inside and ordered Shikamaru to come in and lock the door.

"Temari! I am so sorry! It happened so fast that I couldn't even stop it!" Sakura proceeded to try and get herself out of trouble though she knew it would work. "I swear, I didn't mean to.......!"

But Temari shut her up very fast as she whirled around and yanked Sakura into nearly a bone crushing hug, bewildering her completely. It even made Shikamaru frowned in bewilderment when he saw her hug the other woman other than smack the shit out of her before firing her.

"Uh......Tem-Temari?" Sakura muttered as she stood there, shocked.

The blonde shook her head as she continued to hug Sakura, while tears filled her eyes and she buried her face into the doctor's shoulder and her own arm. "I swear, Sakura. I never, ever thought that anything like that would happen with Gaara. I thought he would never find anyone that he wanted to be intimate with." She said very emotionally. "I thought he would live his life alone, unloved and never having sex."

Sakura's eyes snapped wide open before she pulled away from Temari, looking at her with shock. "What?!" She gasped.

Temari only grinned at her with tears in her eyes and shaking her head as she kept her hands onto Sakura's shoulders. "Gaara's still a virgin, Sakura. What, you really think he's ever had time to be with a girl with all of the shit he's ever been in? He grew up being made fun of by other kids because of Yondaime and that damn Yashamaru. No one liked him but me and Kankuro. He went to a damn All Boy's Correction Facility for nearly two years before ending up here at the Suna Asylum right after that and being blamed for murdering our fucking father, for god's sake. He's never been with a girl before, Sakura!"

"Aww, man. Do I really have to hear this shit?" Shikamaru asked dryly as he rubbed the back of his neck.

The blonde sponsor shot him a look before pointing at him. "Yes! So don't even think about leaving yet, lazy ass!" She turned her fierce gaze back onto an astonished Sakura and smiled. "Surprised?" She asked with amusement.

"Fuck yes!" Sakura nearly exclaimed. "After having a mind-blowing kiss like that with him, I thought Gaara was at least a little experienced! He surely doesn't act like someone who has never been in that kind of situation!"

Temari grinned as she dropped her hands to her waist and shook her head. She was amused, she had to admit. But it wasn't completely unexpected. "Sexuality is a natural thing, Sakura Haruno. No one is taught about how to have sex with someone else. It comes naturally, deary. When it comes to that point, everyone knows what to do when they need to do it." She shrugged. "Still, I'm just glad it's you that's he's falling for. You're a good person and I like you. I had always hoped that something might happen between you two since you two even first met." She received a surprised look from Sakura but she shook her head. "Sakura, you are the very first person, EVER, to interact with Gaara without him at least biting you or trying to dig your eyes out of your head during the first meeting. He never even touched you when he had that chance. All he did was steal your wallet and get a nice whiff of you."

Sakura still looked worried. "But......Temari, I just......aren't you mad? I mean, I nearly had sex with your brother just now and I'm his doctor! That is so not professional! There are rules about Doctor/Patient relations! Serious rules!"

"Yes, Sakura. I am mad." Temari said dryly, her eyes very blank but then she frowned, now looking angry. "I am very mad that we didn't find you before to help Gaara! We should have gotten word about you a long time ago, that way Gaara wouldn't have to be stuck in the Asylum for so many years! He's nearly 25 years old and he's never had the chance to even experience any pleasures in life! He's had only pain and suffering, hate and fear! That's all he ever knew until you came around! Yes! I am furious! I am so pissed at that god damned father of mine for being such an asshole to my baby brother! And I am so pissed at whoever murdered him, if it was that Kimi-whats-his-face! He almost ruined Gaara's life and you just came and saved it!" She then smiled tightly. "I don't give a shit what the fucking rules are about Doctor/Patient relations. If Gaara likes you and you like him, I give you my permission to do whatever you want to him! As long as you can at least help him feel what it's like to be cared about. I don't give a shit if you have to visit him every night and do whatever you want with him! As long as you help him, that's all that matters. And if anyone, anyone at all has a fucking problem with it, direct them to me and Kankuro." She said tightly. "They will not like what we'll have to say about the matter."

It couldn't be helped. Sakura felt her mouth curve into a smile as she dipped her head down a little shyly. She only felt so happy that Temari wasn't mad at her for getting involved with her brother. She sighed as she reached up and ran her fingers through her hair. "God, I feel so messed up though. I feel like I'm taking advantage of him though."

The blonde woman standing in front of her grinned. "So? You can take advantage of Gaara all you want, honey. Because from what I saw in that damn room, he really enjoyed it." She frowned again though as she looked away and cupped her own chin with her hand. "But.....now that I think about it, there might be some problems with this situation. I can guarantee you that the International Board of Mental Health will have a problem with one of our doctors being romantic with her own patient. They're already having a hissy fit because we've been letting Nagato having his visits with his girlfriend, which I understand that you got to see a little." Temari said smirking at a blushing Sakura and Shikamaru. "And she's not even employed here at the hospital. But you are."

"There's going to be an inquiry, you know that right?" Shikamaru said lazily, his hands shoving into his pockets, making both women look at him.

Temari nodded as she lowered her hand to her side again. She knew he had a point and so did Sakura. They both knew that some trouble were going to going to come out of this. "Then we're just going to have to keep this little affair quiet. It's just going to between me, you and you." The blonde said pointing at each person in the room. "No one else will know about it, though everyone already gets the idea that there is some chemistry between them."

"Everyone?" Sakura asked worriedly.

Both Temari and Shikamaru gave the pink haired doctor a dull look. "Damn, Sakura. As smart as you are, you can be dense. Hardly anyone is stupid here. Everyone can already see that there's something there between you and Gaara. But no one really knows that it just got physical and we're going to make sure no one finds out." The blonde said as she looked in between the other two. "From here and on our way out, nothing we just said gets out. Got that?" She directed that mostly at Shikamaru.

The lazy security guard rolled his eyes but reached up and ran his fingers across his mouth, as if zipping his lips shut. "As if I want to remind myself. I just saw Sakura nearly getting some from some lunatic and it's not something I care to remember." He remarked dryly.

Both women glared at him for two different reasons but Sakura let out a sigh as she shook her head. "Temari," She muttered running her fingers through her hair again. "Are you sure.......are you sure it's okay? I mean, don't get me wrong at all. Ever since I even met Gaara I've been feeling......feeling things for him. But, it doesn't face the fact that he is a patient here at the Asylum and I'm a doctor at the Asylum. Is it even right?" She asked, worriedly.

"Sakura, when two people have something like that for each other, there is no right or wrong." Temari said dryly folding her arms across her chest. "Yeah, it's a little messed up that it's a doctor lusting after her patient but seriously. You two are both human. And it's not just lust that I just saw between you two. There is something else there." She told her very seriously. "I've seen the way you two have been looking at each other lately. There are so many sparks flying off of you both that I swear to god if people could actually see them, it'd be the fricken Fourth of July's firework show at some great big concert or something."

Sakura smiled and shook her head but she folded her arms and shifted her weight. "Well......I really do like him. And he did demand that I came back tonight. Apparently he's not done with me." She said, slyly.

Temari grinned evilly. "Do you need something to wear? Because I know this really great lingerie store in the city. I shop there all of the time." She offered. Sakura blushed hot red.

"Oh, god. I'm outta here now." Shikamaru said, also blushing but rolling his eyes as he turned and left the room before he heard anything. In truth, he found that the way that Temari Sabaku had just said that she bought lingerie very sexy. And he rolled his eyes again when he heard both women start laughing as he left the office. "Women." He grumbled.


	13. Chapter 13

Title: The Devil's Whisper

Short Summary:  
Sakura is a Psychiatrist for a mental hospital for the Konoha Hospital who then gets moved to her dream job in the Suna Hospital for the Criminally Insane to take care of a very dangerous patient named Gaara. WARNING! Sasuke bashing!!

Pairings:  
Sakura/Sasuke (minor), Sakura/Gaara

Warning: Story contains implied and/ or scenes of: major language, torture, rape, angst, adult scenes, violence and probably more…

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of its characters. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

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**Warning!!: From here on out, there's going to be lemon scenes now and then. But here's another warning, you're not going to like the ending of this chapter. I expect a lot of pissed people. *Grins evilly* **

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**Chapter XIII**

Sakura really couldn't believe that Temari had actually been very serious about going to the lingerie shop in Suna. She had thought that she had been joking!

But no.

Right after their little conversation in Sakura's office, Temari dragged her out of the Asylum, stating that they were going out for lunch together and shoved the pink haired doctor into her deep lavendar convertable. Sakura, of course, really did think they were going to lunch together, probably to talk more about the new relationship with Gaara. So she didn't start complaining until she saw a Playboy bunny head neon sign in front of the building that Temari had just pulled into.

"No! No, no, no! Temari, are you crazy?! I can't wear lingerie while visiting Gaara! Even if I was going to do anything very intimate with him!" Sakura immediately began her protests.

Temari just grinned at her as she parked the car in front of the shop and started getting out. She closed the door and leaned against the window, tilting her head in a smug way at her pink haired friend, probably soon to be sister in law. But she couldn't really tell what kind of future was in store for her baby brother and Sakura yet. But then again, Temari was hardly ever wrong. "Sakura, we're not going back until we get you something to wear for my baby bro. After it, this is going to be his first time. You do want to make it special for him, don't you?" She asked slyly.

Sakura was flushed bright red as she tried to sink into the car, looking around and hoping that she didn't see someone that would recognize her. After all, having pink hair was pretty conspicious. "Temari! Who said I was even going to sleep with Gaara?! I didn't! I said that I like him! But he's still......"

"Sakura," Temari said tightly smiling at her as she rest her chin on her arm. "I know better. Get out of the fucking car already." She told her before she turned and walked straight for the building. "Besides, there's a couple of things I need to talk to you about anyway." Then she disappeared inside.

For a very long time, Sakura just sat there in the car, looking at the building with a look of horror. She couldn't believe that Temari was doing this to her. And for her own little brother! This was so embarrassing. It wasn't like she was going actually going to end up doing something like.....like having sex with Gaara! He was still her patient! Yeah, they had a very intimate moment that day but there was no way that they would do something serious! She wasn't even sure if that was what Gaara had in mind for her. Though, technically, Sakura did find it intriguing that it had been revealed that Gaara was a virgin. In all the years she ever slept with any guy, she had never actually slept with a virgin. Her bastard of a father's friend had been her first and he hadn't been a big V. And she knew for a fact that when she even started going out with Sasuke, he had slept with another girl for his first. It intrigued Sakura to think about what it would like to actually take someone else's virginity.

Thinking about it made her groan and smack her head on the car's dashboard. "I am so screwed. Or at least I'm going to be." Sakura groaned before she grabbed her purse and got out of the car.

Sakura entered the Playboy Lingerie shop with a worried look on her face. She had never been in a lingerie shop before. She had spent most of the time buying her undergarments at the usual clothing store. She had even found it unusual when Sasuke had always told her not to ever go into a lingerie shop as it was. She had always thought it was particular how he didn't want her to wear lingerie. 'He probably thought I would try and wear them for someone else.' She thought miserable before flushing hot red when the first thing she saw in the shop was a female manniquin showing off deep black lingerie, yet had a slit in the crotch for whatever reason she couldn't even imagine. The bra's cups were star shaped. "Oh.....my......god." She muttered in horror.

"Sakura! It's about time you decided to come in!" Temari called from the front counter, whom she was talking to an aristocratic looking lady, who was wearing a skimpy dress. She waved to Sakura, grinning. She watched Sakura timidly walk over and all she did was roll her eyes and smiled at the woman on the other side of the counter. "Kiki, be nice to her, okay? She's never been in a shop like this. So go easy on her."

The pretty pink haired doctor looked between Temari and the woman, who was looking her over, as if judging her. She hated it when people did that. Especially when those steel colored eyes stopped on her wide forehead. She hated it when people looked at it. "He-hello." Sakura said before making a face when she realized she was starting to sound like Hinata. So she cleared her throat and tried to straighten herself to look professional again. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly before smiling. "Hi. I'm Sakura Haruno. It's nice to meet you." She tried again.

Temari grinned as she watched her friend at least try and be casual in a sexy underwear shop.

The woman, Kiki, however rose an eyebrow at Sakura before glancing at Temari as if she was worried about something. "Oh, my fucking god. She does need my help." She moved around the desk while Sakura looked offended.

Sakura glared after the shop owner as she disappeared out of view, probably looking for lingerie for her. She just stared after her with her mouth wide open before she looked at a laughing Temari. "Temari! That.....she just insulted me and you're laughing about it! What the hell is this?!" She demanded.

"Madam Kiki." Temari said smirking at her as she leaned against the counter and shook her head. "She can be a stuck up bitch, believe me. But she's the best of making a girl look very sexy. Just ignore her pompous attitude and just keep smiling at her. As long as you be nice to her, you'll get a nice discount and she won't insult you." She shrugged. "Just trust me, Sakura. There has been so many times that I've wanted nothing more than to club her head in. But it takes a lot of self control around her." She told her.

Folding her arms, Sakura shifted her weight and tried her best to keep her temper from flaring up. She knew Temari might have a point. She knew this lady after all. She stood like that for a moment until the lady came back with a clipboard and a dry look on her face. "What's your bra and underwear size?" She asked blankly.

Sakura blushed a little but she cleared her throat. "I'm a 25 B for bras and size 4 in underwear." She told her trying to be pleasant.

"And your style? Leather, Satin, Silk or cotton?" The woman remarked blankly. Alarmed, Sakura could only shrug and shook her head as if she didn't know. And she really didn't. She just wore what was conformtable. Irritated, Kiki arched an eyebrow and marked something down anyway. "Sex style? Top or bottom? Doggie style or Arabian twist?"

"WHAT?!!" Sakura shrieked completely feeling uneasy. Her cheeks had gone a shade that could have matched Gaara's hair.

By this time, Temari was almost on the floor laughing. She doubled over with her arms around her stomach before waving a hand at Sakura when she glared at her. She cleared her throat, trying to stop herself from laughing. "Kiki," She told her. "Just grab what I usually wear, only in her size. Sakura's the type who's somewhat innocent, yet seductive at the same time. Make it bold and delicious. And stop with that nonsense about sex styles. That's non'ya." She told her grinning. Kiki smirked right back, and it became very clear to Sakura that she had been teasing her. But before she could retort, the woman was off again. So Sakura chose to glare at Temari instead, who just smirked. "Like I said, ignore her attitude. She was teasing you to let you know she's not always stuck up. She's trying to tell you to relax. She hates really serious and professional people. Sex is never about professionalism and that's her business. This is all about you and my little bro."

Sakura felt her skin flush but she swallowed hard and tried to lean against the counter and look around the shop. She knew she was trembling a little. The thought of doing something with Gaara in a sexual way was making her nervous. She wasn't entirely sure why though. She had had sex before so it wasn't something she wasn't used to. Maybe it was the fact that it was Gaara Sabaku she might end up with. He was incredibly gorgeous, not that Sasuke wasn't either. But he was also her own mental patient, though she knew that he wasn't really crazy. Maybe just a little unstable when it came to his feelings but he was just fine.

"You know," Temari began as she was watching her. "You're not the only one working at the Asylum that's having a romantic affair with someone there."

Sakura looked at her with surprise at her words. She had almost missed Temari's words but she caught them at the last moment. She could only frown as she thought about what was just said before slowly shaking her head. "What do you mean? You saying that there's another doctor there who's in love with a patient? But.....but there's no female patients there." She said frowning.

Temari only smirked at her but shook her head. "I'm kind of talking about me." She laughed when Sakura's eyes snapped wide open in shock but she shrugged. "Sort of, anyway. It took me a while to figure it out but I guess I kind of like that lazy ass, Shikamaru. He's pretty cute for a very annoying, intelligent guy. He kind of reminds me of myself." She went over to a shelf with Sakura following her and looked at some sexy underwear. "We kind of hooked up at the night club the other night."

"What?" Sakura asked, slowly smiling.

The blonde grinned at her with a shrug. "Hey, he's a good dancer for a lazy ass. Those moves he was pulling on the club floor turned me on, all right? So I dragged him back to my place and we had a little fun. He's not so bad." She told her winking.

Of course, Sakura blushed but was laughing as she began looking at some lingerie with her blonde friend. She was highly amused but surprised. She hadn't really thought that someone like Shikamaru would catch the attention of one of the most richest and successful women like Temari. Especially when she was his boss as much as she was Sakura's. But still, she couldn't say anything about it. After all, she was kind of after her own patient. So she couldn't say shit.

"It's funny." Temari said making Sakura look at her with questioning. But she wasn't looking at her. She was checking out silky underwear but then choosing to ignore them. She laughed a little as if she was finding something very funny but she shook her head as she turned her eyes onto Sakura. "I can't believe of what I'm about to tell you. He's going to be so pissed when he finds out that I did."

"Who?" Sakura asked frowning in confusion.

Temari shook her head as she folded her arms and shifted her weight. She glanced around the shop and spotted Madam Kiki pulling of lingerie off the shelves before disappearing into the back again, only to bring out a small basket. When the woman looked at them and waved a hand, the blonde nodded before motioning to Sakura to follow her to the dressing rooms. She was quiet for a minute as she waved Madam Kiki away, stating that they would call for if they needed help. After they were alone, both Sakura and Temari began looking through the lingerie that Madam Kiki had picked out for the pink haired girl. "Did you know we have a patient at the Asylum who was a very good actor when he was younger? I mean, he was in several plays while in High School and he was really good."

Sakura blinked at her friend but then shook her head. She had had no idea. They had an actor as a patient? She could only wonder who it was and what made him go insane. "Really? Who was it and what made him a little unstable?" She had to ask.

The Heiress of the Sabaku family smiled as she held up pair of black satin underwear with blood red rose petals all over the fabric but then put it to the side. "He's not unstable at all. He's acting. Pretending to be crazy because technically it's safer in the Asylum then out here. At least he thinks so." She turned her eyes onto Sakura, who was looking surprised. "I, and another person, only know the reason why he's hiding in the Asylum. Apparently, someone is after him. His own father, actually. He wanted him to follow the so called family business and our patient didn't want that. He wanted to live his own life and his father got pissed about it and threatened to kill him if he didn't do what he was told. So he blew up a high school on the weekend so that no one really got hurt. Then he acted really crazy just so that he could get committed into the Suna Asylum."

Sakura's mouth fell open wide as only one name fell into her mind and she was completely shocked. "Blew up......?! Deidara?!" She gasped, covering her mouth with a hand.

"Yep. He's not crazy. He's just acting it. He likes living in the Asylum because it's the one place that his criminal father can't go to. Not if he wants to get arrested and sent to prison." Temari told her smiling. "Plus it's the one place he gets to be close to his little sweetheart."

Still shocked, Sakura looked away with bewilderment. She couldn't believe it. Her own patient, Deidara was just acting like he was insane. And Temari was telling her that he was only hiding from his own father. Now that she had actually thought about it, there was that one time during their group session when she asked everyone what they liked to read. Deidara had actually said that he liked romance books in a stable way. He had actually slipped just that once and had caught himself by stating that he liked to blow the books up. But then she caught the fact that Temari just said that Deidara had a sweetheart. "Sweetheart.....?" She asked with a growing smile. "Who is it? Which nurse? Who is she that he likes? Matsuri? Yuki? Usa?"

Temari grinned slyly at her friend but shook her head. "Nope. None of the nurses. One of the doctors. And she is not a she. It's a He."

Sakura's eyes snapped very wide open and her jaw must have hit her chest. "What?! You mean he's.....?!" She gasped.

Temari laughed and nodded as she went back to looking through the undergarments before she seemed to find something that she liked. She grinned before putting it to the side, not letting Sakura see it. Not that she had to worried about it right now. Sakura was too stunned about what she was learning. "Yep again. Deidara is one hundred percent fruitcake. Which explains why he's so cute. Most of the cute ones are always gay." She told her rolling her eyes but smiling.

"But who......?"

"You won't believe it," Temari said grinning side wards at Sakura, who still looked astonished. But she shrugged and faced her with a hand on her waist. "I am the only person ever to know about them. Otherwise, no one knows about it. Except you, because I told you. And I can guarantee you that if Sasori finds out that I told you, he's going to go beserk."

Again Sakura's eyes snapped wide open and her jaw her chest. "Sasori?! He and Deidara?!" Her head lowered as she looked thoughtfully away but then it hit her. "Oh my god. That's why Sasori always talks to Deidara. That's why he can only stand him and can't stand anyone else." She said breathlessly.

Temari only nodded. "It was funny when I found out about them. Deidara wasn't feeling too well one day and he wanted Sasori to check him out, since he's the best doctors we have in the hospital." She smiled slyly. "But the truth was, they just wanted to have a little private conversation. Only that they weren't really talking when I accidently walked in on them in Sasori's office. I like to bug the hell out of my cuz now and then and I swear, I had never expected to walk in on two men kissing. More or less, my own cousin with Deidara."

Laughing, Sakura shook her head. She had to admit it, but she was amused. She just found a side of Sasori she hadn't been expecting to find. Either way, there was no doubt that he was going to want it to remain quiet. "I won't tell anyone. I swear." She promised her blonde friend.

"Good. Because if Sasori finds out that you know now, let me tell you. When he gets pissed, it's not pretty." Temari warned her but was laughing about it. Then she caught sight of a pair of lingerie that really made her grin. She grabbed them and held them up with a nod. "Oh! This is perfect! Hot, seductive, yet modest." She merely glanced over at Sakura, who was blushing as she looked at them. "Just like you, Cherry Blossom. Gaara'd love this one." She told her grinning before shoving it into Sakura's arms and pushing her towards the changing room. "Try it on!"

By the end of the shopping trip, Sakura found herself stuck with that piece of lingerie because Temari liked it so much and swore that Gaara would love it. They returned to the Asylum almost an hour after.

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In all honesty, Sakura was very nervous. She wasn't entirely sure if she was doing the right thing by deciding that she was going to meet Gaara that night. She knew if she didn't, he'd get angry. And she didn't want that. But then again, she found herself pretty excited about it. She found that she did want to meet him. It was the scandal of her life. She was starting a forbidden love affair with her own patient, and the most dangerous. She felt tingles running through her body as she went on with her work for the rest of the way, leaving several papers off to the side that she needed to do that night as it was. Those papers were going to be her excuse for staying after hours so that she could meet with Gaara. At least that was what she was going to tell Itachi.

God forbid that he actually found out that she was starting a relationship with Suna Asylum's most dangerous and prestigous patient. She had to get rid of him for the night anyway and try to get rid of any suspicion he might come up with.

So once she and Temari go back from their little sexy shopping trip, she asked for Baki to locate her brother figure for her and send him up to her office. It didn't take him long to be found and head right up to her office. She was doing her best to not panic a little when he finally came up and she even managed to look normal. She gave him a dry look when he started smirking at her, as if he was about to taunt her about that morning. "Before you say anything about this morning, Itachi, don't even. I am so not in the mood for your teasing right now." She said dryly.

Itachi only smirked as he folded his arms but then he looked over at the many papers on her desk. He only rose an eyebrow before looking over at Sakura. "Looks like you're going to be busy tonight then." He remarked.

Sakura nodded with a grumpy look on her face as she glanced at the papers with some discontent. She couldn't hide that one, for sure. She hated doing paper work. A habit she picked up from Tsunade, actually. She liked just working with her patients and not having to worry about papers and that kind of BS. But in a way, she had to be thankful for the nice pile of work she had to do. "Yeah. Looks like I won't be home until late tonight. So don't even worry about waiting up for me. Why don't you go out tonight and hang out with Kisame or something?" She suggested, feeling a spark of excitment.

However, the long haired Uchiha snorted and folded his arms across his chest. "Sakura, I've known you for nearly twelve years now. I can tell when you're lying. So why don't you tell me what you're really doing?" He asked, with amusement.

Groaning, Sakura looked up into his dark eyes with a pleading look. She really did not want to tell him what she was really planning for the night. It was too embarrassing as it was. "Itachi, please. I'm just going to work on this paper work. So just don't worry about me tonight." She told him.

There was a long silence between the two before Itachi sucked in air, sounding a little frustrated. He turned his eyes away from Sakura. He seemed to be holding his breath for a minute before he let it out again as he turned his dark eyes onto Sakura with an understanding look in them. "If you get hurt, Sakura, I will kill him. I mean it." He said almost in a dark tone, which made Sakura blink in surprise. It seemed that, she realized, Itachi had caught on without her even having to say anything. "You tell Gaara that. I don't care if he is Temari and Kankuro's younger brother, and a Sabaku. I don't give a damn if he is a patient here. And I don't give a damn if you have feelings for him and he might return them. If he hurts you at all, I will painfully kill him. You let him know that." He told her before holding up his hand when Sakura opened her mouth to argue. "I wasn't there when my own brother hurt you, Sakura. I'll be damned if I'm not there when or if Gaara hurts you. I mean it. If you get into any trouble, you better call me immediately. I will be here."

And with that said, he was out of the room before Sakura could even reply.

Sakura sat there in her chair behind her desk, looking at the open door with surprise but then her face softened. She knew Itachi was just being concerned about her. And she knew that he had caught onto what her real plans were for the night. But it didn't seem that he was going to object nor tell anyone about it, but just be on his guard. 'Thank you, Itachi.' She thought happily to herself before returning to her work.

* * *

The plan was that no one was going to be on the office floors but Sakura, Gaara, Temari and Shikamaru. Temari and Shikamaru had came up with the plan that Sakura was going to stay after hours, after everyone had left, to finish her paper work. And to make sure that nothing actually would happen to her, Shikamaru was assigned to guard the top floor, which he put on the show about how big of a drag it was going to be. None the less, he gave Sakura a small radio so that they could keep in contact if anything did go wrong. As for the security system, Shikamaru had hacked into the system and altered the records so that Temari could sneak Gaara up and back to his room without having to worry too much. The only flaw in that plan was they had to be quick about it. There was only a four minute time limit that he could set up and only could do it twice. So that meant, Temari had to make sure Gaara run back and forth from the his room to Sakura's office on the floor above the one he was and then back. All that time, he had to try and distract the other guards and make sure they never caught a glimpse of a patient out of his room.

As for Sakura she was to remain in her office and wait with Temari for when it was time for the romantic scandal to begin. She was a little nervous but excited to be breaking rules for once for her own reasons. She had spent most of her life doing things for others that she never really did something for herself unless someone forced her to. But now, she was about to take a major step that she knew she would never be able to back out of. While she was waiting for Temari to show up for the beginning of the plan, she was thinking about what she was about to do. She was actually going to do this, wasn't she? She was actually going to get very physical with Gaara Sabaku. It was rather exciting as she thought about it. He was so devilish good looking that he should have been a crime.

A sin. But there was just some of those times where committing a sin like this called for it. This was one of those times.

Finally, Temari showed up, knocking on her door and looking in with a smirk on her face. She entered the room just like how it was planned out, knowing that the security system had gotten her on the record. Now they just had to wait for Shikamaru's signal for her to bolt to the stairs. She had made sure to walk around barefoot, which had made several people raise eyebrows at her. But they knew better than to her. She was barefoot for a very good reason. There was no way in hell she was going to be able to run from the office floors to Gaara's room and back in heels. So the best way to go was barefoot. "Are you ready?" She asked her pink haired friend as she went over to her.

Sakura was taking a few deep breaths but she really couldn't stop smiling as she had lit up a few scented candles around the room before going over to her CD player to put on decent music. There was a reason for the music. When, or even if anyone heard a little of what might happen in the room, the music would be blocking out most of the noise. That way it wouldn't be too suspcious. "I really can't believe you're letting me do this, Temari." She said smirking at her blonde friend. "I mean, in your family's building, with your youngest brother, who happens to be a patient here and I'm one of your employees."

"Hey, hey. As long as it's what you and Gaara wants, I shall have no complaints." Temari said grinning at her slyly before plucking up the radio Shikamaru gave her earlier out of her jacket. "Hey, Lazy ass. Are we almost ready?"

There was a silence for a minute before a crackle over the radio. _"Almost there. Most of the doctors and nurses had gone home already so it's almost closing time. There's only about ten people still here. And as far as I know, there's only going to be six. Baki's locking up down in the Isolation Floor. Looks like the two asses, Orochimaru and Kabuto is doing late work, their selves though. But they'll be staying down in the Morgue as far as I'm concerned." _Shikamaru snorted and shook his head. _"I'm starting to think that rumor about them is true. But let's not even think about that."_

Temari rolled her eyes with Sakura before heading over to the door and waiting by it with her hand on the knob. "Yes. Please, don't let us think about those sickos. I can't wait till Chiyo decides to fire those two. They really are creeping me out. Tell us when, and I'll be racing down there."

_"Hold it. Shit, looks like we're going to delay it for a second. Madara's coming!" _Shikamaru warned them.

Temari and Sakura both jumped before hurrying over to the desk as if they were looking over papers together. They didn't expect this little flaw to happen. And even better yet, Sakura hadn't blown out her candles. She winced as she thought about what Madara might say but she chose to ignore it now that it was too late. So she sank down in the chair and picked up a paper, pointing at it as if showing Temari something, just as a knock came on her door. "Come in!" She called, trying to make herself surprised.

The door opened and in came Madara. He glanced around the room for a second then smiled at the two women. "Oh, Miss Sabaku, Miss Haruno. I heard you were still here." He walked into the room towards them, smiling gently at them. "I would have thought you went home by now." he told them.

Sakura smiled right back and shook her head as she held up her papers. "Not yet. I still have some work to do here and I thought it best if I got them done before I went home." She informed the Head of Medical Examiners.

Madara walked over and looked at the papers with surprise. He looked at Sakura with a raised eyebrow but then smiled again at her as he motioned to them. "Would you like some help then? If you would like I can take half of them and help you. That way you don't have to stay so late." He said, kindly.

"Oh! No, no! That's so kind of you, Dr. Uchiha." Sakura said smiling, though inside she was having a little panic spasm. She hadn't been expecting him to offer her some help. "But I think I better do it. I have to work very hard to make sure I.....well, that I do my job correctly. After all of the cutbacks I've already had since I began working here, I can't afford any more slacking off."

The Uchiha Doctor just laughed and shook his head. "Nonsense. You're one of the best doctors we have. Please, allow me to help."

"Thanks, but I really don't need it." Sakura said trying not to panic.

Temari then decided to interrupt, knowing that they couldn't waste anymore time by talking to Madara Uchiha about a bunch of paper work. She knew they were losing precious time for Sakura and Gaara to have their little private time together. "Madara, why don't you just head on home for the night. Surely you have a lady you can take out for the night." She said smiling at him. She then motioned to Sakura. "I'll help with her paper work. You just go home." She told him. "Or go out tonight. You've been just as stressed out as everyone else."

Madara sighed as he reached up and ran his hand through his black hair. "Yes, yes. Maybe you're right. It has been a pretty stressful year with all of the murders. I do hope we can end this pretty soon. I'm starting to really worry about the patients. I just hope we can stop whoever is killing them soon. The IBMH Department isn't too happy about what's been happening. They're thinking about sending someone in to find out what's been going on."

"IBMH?" Sakura asked frowning.

Temari didn't look too happy to hear that though but she folded her arms and looked dryly between Madara and Sakura. "The International Board of Mental Health. I mentioned them to you earlier today. They've been throwing a hissy fit about Nagato's sexual visits with his girlfriend. They are a real pain in the ass, if you'd ask me." She shook her head letting out a frustrated health. "Especially that asshole Head of theirs, Danzou. Now there's a man who really would love to hate, Sakura. He's the most sexism man I've ever met. He hates women and he thinks I'm slut because I like to wear tight dresses. He even had the nerve to say that to my face. Gaara and Kankuro really, REALLY hates him."

"Yes." Madara said just as dryly before turning slightly away from him. "He is definitely one of the most unpopular men in the world." He then forced a smile. "Well, if you're sure there's nothing you need help doing, I'll just be on my way." He almost started leaving but then glancing around at the candles, frowning. He stared at them before raising an eyebrow at Sakura, who really had hoped he would have noticed them. But he had.

Sakura shrugged as innocent as she could. "Scented candles. They help me relax. I could really use that while I'm working." She tried as an excuse.

Either way, Madara bought it because he grinned and shook his head before making his way to the door. "Don't overdo yourself, Doctor Haruno. Good night." he told the ladies before leaving.

There was a very long silence between Temari and Sakura as they waited. They really hoped that he was gone. They didn't want to waste anymore time more than they already had. They had to make sure that he was actually gone. And when they heard the radio crackle, both of them jumped. Annoyed and amused at the same time, Temari took the radio out and touched the button. "Jesus! Don't scare us, Lazy Ass. Is he gone?" She asked.

_"Yeah. He's just stepped into the elevator and he's heading out. The Office floor is completely empty now. The night watch on the second floor is now settling in for a nice big box of pepperoni pizza in courtesy of moi._" Shikamaru actually sounded smug about his little plan to distract the other guards. _"All right. Thirty seconds. Get ready!" _Temari was already hurrying over to the door with her hand on the doorknob. She looked over at Sakura who was looking nervous again. She gave her a smile before taking a deep breath. _"Go! Run fast and run hard!" _Shikamaru's order came through the radio. And then Temari was out the door, leaving Sakura alone.

Sakura paced back and forth in her office as she waited. She stopped several times in front of a full length mirror she had in the room to look at herself to see if she looked okay. She was slightly pale from being so nervous but she smiled as she unbuttoned a few of the buttons on her blouse and then ran her hands through her pink hair, trying to make herself look as sexy as she could. She wanted this to be just right for Gaara. Then she went back to pacing.

Suddenly the door opened, making her jump a little but relax when she saw both Temari and Gaara slip into the room, her heart already melting at the sight of the handsome red head, who turned his sea-foam gaze onto her. He was already smirking at her as if he knew what she had in mind. That smirk made her knees weak and she had to sit against her desk to keep herself from falling on her ass. Temari on the other hand placed a hand onto her chest and heaved from running so fast but then she straightened herself and smirked at the other two. "Phase One: Complete." She grabbed the radio. "Hey, Shika. Did it work?"

There was a low crackle but then the replay came. _"Yeah. It didn't get you at all. I've managed to keep it covered up complete. There's only a tiny glitch but no one is going to notice at all. However, in five, four, three, two one. It's back up to normal. So when you leave, it'll get you leaving, Temari. And it'll get you going back in two hours. So that gives our two little lovebirds that much time to spend with each other. So make it count." _

Sakura blushed and Gaara smirked almost wickedly.

Temari also grinned but shook her head as she reached over and placed the radio down on the nearest table before pushing Gaara a little to the middle of the room so that the camera out in the hall didn't accidently catch him as she opened the door. "Well, I'm going out for some coffee. I'll be back in two hours to help you finish your paper work, Sakura." She told the pink haired girl with a grin and then added a wink. "Have fun, you two." And she closed the door.

There was a silence between Gaara and Sakura as they looked at each other, with their own strange smiles. Sakura knew that Gaara had a very good idea of what was planned out and she was sure he was thinking that he was going to take charge just like he had earlier, but she had her own plans. She tilted her head as she pushed herself up onto the desk and crossed her legs, all the while pulling her skirt up just a little to reveal some leg. She knew how to be seductive if the moment called for it. She had experience in turning men on, though she could already tell that Gaara was already. She could see the lust in his eyes already as he looked at her exposed leg then back into his green eyes. She just smiled her most seductive smile at him. "I heard something curious from Temari earlier today after I left your room with her." She said in a low voice.

"Really?" Gaara asked in a dangerously low voice but had his smirk across his lips. "And what was that?"

Sakura smiled slyly up at him before she reached up and ran her finger across her own jaw, making the skin tickle a little. "She said that you've never been with a girl before. That you're still virgin." She said, huskily.

Gaara now looked blankly at her but kept his smirk on his face. "I'm sure I'm not the only man of my age who's never had sex before." He said dryly.

His remark and the look on his face just made Sakura laugh a little before she pushed herself off her desk and she moved towards him, hips swaying. And much to her pleasure, she saw his eyes following them. She just gave him her most seductive smile as she walked right up to him and reached out to his face, cupping it with both hands. "And you probably won't be the last. But for you, it ends tonight." She smiled when his lips curved into a smirk before she stood on her toes so she could kiss him. They kissed each other, which sent hot sparks through both of them, arms wrapping around each other and pressing their bodies against each other's. Then Sakura pulled away from him, looking more like a dark angel to the handsome red head. "Now, my dear patient. As your doctor, I must tell you that I need to perform a few tests on you." She told him in a low, husky voice.

"Hmm." Gaara hummed as he watched her slowly circle him but then he turned his head the other way so he could watch her on the other side. "Oh really? What kind of tests, _Doctor?_" He asked slyly.

Sakura just smiled seductively before she now stood in front of him and slowly began to slid her hands under his shirt, pushing it up until her cool hands touched his warm stomach. Her very touch made Gaara hiss a little and his eyes grew a little heavy as he felt her cool touch. The pink haired doctor only smiled as she pushed his shirt up even more until she began tugging it right over his head, removing it from him. She paused to look directly at his chest, noting it was slightly pale from the lack of sun. But nonetheless, he was well toned. He had a four pack stomach, so obviously he did some exercising while in Isolation. She kind of figured that he did that on his extra time, which he had had a lot of it.

"I'm suspecting you're seeing something you like." Gaara said slyly as he watched her stare at his bare chest.

Blinking out of her thoughts, Sakura slowly smiled and looked right into his eyes, before she reached up with both hands and touched both nipples, which only brought another sharp intake of breath from him. She slowly began to rub them, which brought a low groan from within him. Then she slowly slid her hands down his front to the draw string that kept his pants up. "Oh, I forgot. I should probably change into my uniform." She remarked before stepping back away from him, which made him look at her somewhat dryly for stopping what she had been doing not more than a second ago. But Sakura only smiled as she began to unbutton her blouse, which made his eyes light up and he looked down at her with lust in his eyes. But she just kept on to removing her shirt before removing it, to reveal a blood red bra with two small Kanji words on the cups. The kanji word of Love.

Seeing those words made Gaara blink only once, twice before his devilish smirk was back on his face as he reached up and touched one of the words. "Well, well. I must say, I think I might like this on you." He said smirking as he looked into her eyes.

Sakura just smiled her own devilish smile at him. "I thought you might. But wait till you see this one." She then reached behind her and drew down the small zipper on the back before dropping the skirt down to her ankles. She watched Gaara look down to see the blood red G string thong she was wearing, which, too, had the Kanji word of Love on the front. "I picked them out just for you." She remarked before she ran her hand across Gaara's chest as she went around him, having him follow her a little before she slowly began to back him up into her desk. Then she grabbed at the draw string of his pants and pulled it, loosening it. She didn't let go of it yet, but held it up. Gaara only smirked at her, giving her a daring look as he reached out and placed his hands onto her hips. So, taking that dare, Sakura let go and let the pants slip down to his own ankles and she got to see exactly what she was up against. Now she had expected him to be a decent size, maybe at least 7 inches, but she was very surprised to see that he wasn't. He was bigger. "Oh, wow. You're a nine incher."

"A what?" Gaara asked now making a face.

The pink haired doctor only smiled as she looked up into his sea-foam eyes before shaking her head. "Never mind. It only means, you are a very big boy. And this is going to be pretty fun. Now, as your doctor, I need to do a full physical examination. You may feel a little discomfort, but please try and relax." She told him in a seductive tone, trying to play a dirty nurse. Then she slowly bent forward and placed a kiss onto the center of his chest, which made Gaara's eyes flutter close as she continued to kiss his chest and slowly trail down.

Of course, his eyes snapped open when he felt Sakura start kissing his hard member and he looked down at her with a little astonishment. And when she looked up at him with seductive gaze, he frowned a little before his eyes lit up with realization. He figured out what she was about to do.

By that time, Sakura had taken him into her mouth and began to suckle the tip of his member, earning a pleasureable groan from him. She didn't have to look up to see that he had tossed his head back and was clenching his teeth with pleasure on his face. She felt one of his hands lay against her head but she didn't pay too much attention. Her only concentration was on what she was doing. She felt him grow harder inside her mouth but she just kept on sucking on him and bobbing her head up and down, letting him go deeper. She almost smiled around his hard shaft when she felt him make a small thrust. Concentrating on deep throating him, she tasted a sweet but salty taste her mouth and she smiled as she slowly pulled her head back, releasing him.

Gaara opened his eyes and looked down at her with a hard look before he shook his head. "You are driving me more insane than I already am." He growled at her before he bent down and pulled her to her feet.

Wrapping his arms around her waist, he turned them both so that she would be against the desk and he pinning her against it. He pulled her into a fiery, hot kiss while his hands began to wander. He slipped one hand under the fabric of her left bra, cupping her small mound and giving it a light squeeze, causing her to moan loudly into his mouth. Gaara's other hand slowly trailed down her side and met the strings of Sakura's thong. He paused for a minute before grabbing the string and slipped his hand into the fabric and trailed down her inner thigh until he reached her folds. He began rubbing the small nub, causing Sakura's breath to hitch as she kissed him before she began moan as she pulled her head away from his and leaned it back, giving him full access to her neck where he began nipping her skin, sending white hot electricity through her entire body.

"Gaara." Sakura moaned.

Gaara stopped and looked at her with a smirk. "Do that again. Say my name like you just did." He told her in a low voice.

Sakura opened her eyes and looked at him in such a sexy way that was driving him wild. She slowly slid her hands down his sides until she had her hands his own bare thighs. "Gaara." She said in a low, husky voice. She smiled when he groaned before leaning his head forward onto her shoulder. "I take it you liked that."

"You have no idea." Gaara growled at her before he placed his hands onto her waist and hooked his fingers under the strings of her thong. With a very swift move, he slid them down, letting them fall before wrapping his arms around her waist and lift her up, setting her down right onto the desk's edge. He moved very close to her, pressing himself against her inner thigh.

This was it, Sakura realized. This was the point of no returning. She knew that this was just driving him more insane by playing with him, so why not relieve him a little. She smiled as she reached up and placed her hands on either side of his face. She brought his head down a little and she gently kissed the marking on his forehead before she wrapped her legs around his own and used one hand to wrap around his dick, which made him hiss as he placed his head against her shoulder. She just smiled before she guided him right into her, which had her hiss with her own pleasure as she felt him enter her clit. She had to close her eyes and bite her lip to keep herself from moaning too loud but she coaxed him to go deeper until he was was completely inside her.

Gaara's breathing had sped up a little but he pulled slightly away and looked into Sakura's eyes, smirking his devilish smirk. They hadn't started yet and he was already feeling sweat on both of them. She met his eyes, which were heavy with passion.

They kissed each other, tongues dancing with each other before he slowly drew out a little before giving a sharp thrust. Sakura's erotic scream was muffled within his mouth while her eyes closed tightly but she urged him on as she flicked his tongue with her own. She began to pant as she felt him slowly thrusting into her but all she did was tighten her legs' grip around him, causing him press closer to her. She felt his hot kisses trail from her mouth, down her jaw to her neck were he began to suck on a sensitive spot near her ear, while she only bit her lip with her eyes closed, keeping herself from getting too loud.

Soon the thrusting began to speed up and a little harder, causing both Sakura and Gaara to groan in unison before they felt their selves both coming. Sakura's fingers began to dig into her partner's shoulder blades while he muffled his loud groans into her skin while he thrust harder and faster.

"Oh, oh!" Sakura groaned before placed her head against his shoulder before she clenched her teeth tightly, trying very hard not to start screaming as she began to climax. Just by clenched her teeth so tight started to hurt so she decided to bite something else to keep herself from screaming. And she found herself sinking her teeth into Gaara's shoulder, which caused him to cry out with pleasure and pain, while his thrusting only grew more intense. "Gaara!"

"Sakura." Gaara only growled against forehead as he continued to thrust into her before he felt as if something had exploded and he suddenly stopped inside of her.

Together, they panted, heads leaning against each others and eyes closed. They were breathing in the same pace and at the same time with their arms still around each other but then slowly, each of them opened their eyes and jade met teal. For a long moment Sakura and Gaara stared into each other's eyes before they slowly smirked at one another. Slowly, he pulled himself out of her before he leaning against the next to her. Together, they both laid back against the top of Sakura's desk and stared up at the ceiling, both drenched in sweat.

"Wow." Sakura had to say breathlessly as she looked at the dark cieling above them. "I'd have to admit, for a beginning, not bad."

The red head smirked as he merely glanced over at her before looking up at the ceiling again. "I guess this test passed, hmm? You up for a second test, _Doctor?_" he asked, before reached over with one hand and placed it over her thigh.

Sakura smirked as she turned her head and looked over at him before she reached over and rest an arm around his waist. "Oh, yeah. There is definitely going to be a second round." She told him.

Gaara merely grinned at her before sitting up and pushing himself off the desk and positioned himself in between her legs, bringing her thighs into his but he didn't enter her but bent over her, looking down at her. "I've underestimated you, my lovely doctor. I thought you were the innocent type. But you are so very decieving. You are a vixen." He told her with heavy eyes.

Smirking, Sakura reached up and brushed his damp red strands from his forehead. "And you are not as tough as you think you are, you big softie." She teased before she began running a finger along the red lines of his marking. "You still haven't really told me where you got that. It kind of feels like a scar but it looks like a tattoo." She told him, tilting her head in wonder.

"It's both." Gaara merely told her as he bent closer to her and began kissing her chest, which made her breath hitch a little in pleasure. "Yondaime carved it into my forehead when I was eight." He admitted making Sakura look at him in surprise. I got the tattoo placed over it after I got out of the Corrections Facility because I hated it being a scar."

"Oh." Sakura sighed feeling somewhat guilty for making him think about it.

Gaara just shook his head as he lift his head and looked into her eyes before he placed his hands against her own and entwined his fingers with hers, which made her smile. "Don't regret asking about it. I don't. I probably would have done the same thing to myself anyway. This marking meant to Love Oneself." His eyes practically penetrated Sakura's own eyes as he looked at her with a smirk. "But I think the meaning might have changed over the past several weeks." He told her.

And all Sakura could do was smile before they began round two. And if the lights would have been on in Sakura's office, they would have been surprised when they suddenly shut off. But right now, they were in their own little world as they began the second half of their little private time.

* * *

The door creaking open was what woke him up during his for once peaceful dreams of oranges and skipping through flowery fields with orange trees and with two familiar faces. He knew who they were from somewhere but he just couldn't think of their names right now. He remembered the silver haired man being called Kashi or something like that. But why couldn't he remember them. The girl, however, he wasn't too sure about. They were from his distant memories, he knew.

But after hearing the door creak open, he jerked awake and sat up, looking at the ajared door with a frown. He didn't understand why the door was open. He knew it wasn't suppose to be. "Hello?" he whimpered before he realized how dark it had gotten out in the hall. He whimpered as he sat up and curled into the corner, wrapping his arms around his knees. He hated the dark.

"H-Hello?" The dark haired patient murmured again. He felt a shiver run right up his spine when he heard a creepy chuckle from out in the hall. He couldn't see who it was. All he saw was a dark sillouette in the door way.

_"Tobi."_ came the low whisper before something silver flashed in the darkness. _"Come out, come out and play, Tobi." _


	14. Chapter 14

Title: The Devil's Whisper

Short Summary:  
Sakura is a Psychiatrist for a mental hospital for the Konoha Hospital who then gets moved to her dream job in the Suna Hospital for the Criminally Insane to take care of a very dangerous patient named Gaara. WARNING! Sasuke bashing!!

Pairings:  
Sakura/Sasuke (minor), Sakura/Gaara

Warning: Story contains implied and/ or scenes of: major language, torture, rape, angst, adult scenes, violence and probably more…

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of its characters. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

**Another Warning!!: There's a little gore in this chapter. **

* * *

**Chapter XIV**

It wasn't even two hour's time when the radio crackled from across the room, stating that Shikamaru and Temari was going to erupt and that made Gaara growl while he had been pleasing Sakura with his thrusts but with an annoyed groan, they looked over to where the radio was sitting.

_"Sakura! You better hurry it up. We've got a problem." _Shikamaru interrupted and it sounded like he was walking really fast. In the background they could hear Temari asking what the hell was going on.

Groaning, Sakura lightly pushed Gaara off of her, who was growling threats about the Security guard and his older sister as he bent down and grabbed his shirt off the ground and used it to dry him his face a little. The pink haired doctor, wearing only her bra walked across the room and snatched up the radio. She took several breaths to slow her breathing before pushing the button. "What is it, Shikamaru?" She asked sounding a little irritated.

There was a pause before she heard someone on the other side of the door, now tapping it. She froze with Gaara and stared at it but then they recognized the voices. "Hurry and get dressed. The power's gone out." Shikamaru called through the door.

"And why the fuck should we worry about that?" Gaara growled but was pulling on his clothes anyway.

Sakura frowned with concern before hurrying over to her own clothes and began grabbing them and pulling them on. She almost forgot about her G string but with a smirking Gaara holding it up and bouncing it on his finger, she tried to take it from him, which failed for a second. He decided to take teasing her by holding it an arm's length away.

"Hurry it up and unlock the door! This isn't a good thing!" Temari called through the door. "The power is out! That means we can't get Gaara back into his room until it comes back on! And I can guarantee you that the other guards are going to be checking on the patients! And we can't get into the rooms without your card, Sakura! There's an emergency lock on all of the doors that makes sure that the patients don't accidently leave their rooms during the power outage!"

Sighing, Sakura fixed her shirt and made herself look normal before hurrying over to the door and unlocking it. She pulled it open to reveal Temari and Shikamaru, both looking around with alert. "Okay, so what's going on?" She asked just as irritated as Gaara when he came and stood by her.

Shikamaru looked at the two with a serious look on his face. "All of the power in the Asylum went out. I thought for a second that it might be just this floor but it's the entire building. I radioed it in and the guards are already going to go take a look. But that's not just it. The power outage also knocked out the security system so we can't see what's going on in the halls. The only thing that is up is the emergency locks on each of the doors. And to open a door during this time, it takes only a doctor's card. Your card. Not even security can get into the rooms. And I can guarantee you if we don't get Gaara back in his room right now, someone's going to notice and they're going to think he's responsible." He told them.

Again, Sakura sighed before she reached out and grabbed her bag hanging on the coat rack in her office before pulling out her wallet. She was disappointed that it had to end so quickly. She and Gaara had only been together for about 50 minutes. But she figured that they should probably end it for the night. "All right. Come on, Gaara. Let's hurry and get you back." She told him, not hiding the fact that she was disappointed.

Temari gave them both a sympathetic look but together the four began hurrying into the darkness towards the stairs. They knew they'd better hurry it up. Problem was, they were in the dark so it was kind of hard to see down the halls. With only a flashlight in Shikamaru's hand, they hurried to the stairwell and went down to the next floor. Of course, as soon as they got to Gaara's room, they could hear shouts from some of the other guards not too far away so they knew they'd better hurry it up. Sakura pulled out her card out of her wallet and hurried forward, swiping the lock on Gaara's door. Shikamaru pushed the door open and stepped to the side to let Gaara slip in.

Sakura, however, heard crying from somewhere. Frowning, she turned away from Gaara's door and looked down the hall, in the direction it was coming from. She could hear someone crying from somewhere down the hall. With a hint of confusion, she hurried away from Shikamaru and Temari to go investigate herself, finding herself turning around one of the corners and heading down another hall. It wasn't far at all from where Gaara's room was.

In fact, it was coming from Tobi's room.

Sighing, Sakura smiled as she went straight to Tobi's room, hearing him crying within his room. The sounds he was making was terrible enough but she figured that he was just having another nightmare. She figured she should try and calm him down. However, when she arrived at his door, she froze. It was opened all on its own. She frowned in alarm but then slowly pushed the door completely open and entered. She heard Tobi's whimpers, making her look around in the dark room before seeing the dark lump curled up on the floor in a corner, clutching his face with both hands. She could barely see him though.

"Tobi?" Sakura said gently as she moved closer to him and paused when she saw him flinch and cringe away from her. "Tobi, are you all right? Did you have another nightmare?"

Tobi's only answer was whimpers but he lift his head up higher, still covering his face. But for some reason, it looked really dark, as if there was something covering Tobi's face. "Wh-Who's.....who's there?!" Tobi cried, sounding as if he was deeply in pain.

Sakura smiled gently before moving a few steps closer to him, but slowly. She didn't want to spook him more than he seemed to be already. "It's okay, Tobi. It's just me. It's Sakura."

"Sak-Sak-Sakura?" Tobi whimpered before letting out a pitiful cry. He covered his head with his arms and laid against the floor, crying harder. "To-Tobi was bad again! Tobi deserved it!"

The pink haired doctor smiled faintly at him before taking another step towards him. "Deserved what, Tobi? What did you do wrong?" She then felt her foot slip as if she stepped on something and she almost went down. Yelping in surprise, she caught herself on the sink in Tobi's room and saw Tobi jerk up right but she wasn't looking at him. She frowned and looked down at what she stepped on and saw a puddle of something very dark in the middle of the room. She felt her breath catch in her throat as she bent down a little to get a better look. It might have been really dark in the room but she knew that the dark liquid was deep red. And the deep red liquid must have been blood. And there was a lot of it. She lift her head and looked right at Tobi with anxiety. "Tobi, did you hurt yourself again?" She asked with concern but then her mouth fell. She saw the same dark liquid all over his front and falling from under mask. "To-Tobi, what did you do?"

Tobi only cried harder as he gripped his head. "Tobi didn't do it! Tobi was bad so he punished him!" He shrieked.

Sakura couldn't help but feel a wave of dread fall over her. She didn't like any of this. Moving quickly over to Tobi's side, she bent down next to him and placed a hand onto his shoulder. However, doing that startled Tobi and made him scream with fright and try to throw himself away from her. "Tobi! It's just me! It's Sakura! It's okay! I won't hurt you!" Sakura told him in a loud voice as she tried to talk over him. "Let me see what happened!"

But Tobi was in fit of panic and was trying to pull away from her. Doing so was causing blood to get all over the place and even on Sakura but she didn't pay any attention to it. She just grabbed at his shoulders and tried to get him to settle down. "No! No! Tobi doesn't want Sakura to see!" He cried out in pain and fear.

At that time, Shikamaru and Temari must have heard the shouting and screams and came to see what it was and they were followed by Gaara only a moment later. But as they entered Tobi's room, they all froze at the sight of all of the blood. There was much of it, which caused Gaara to freeze with very wide eyes. There was almost a hint of panic in his own eyes, due to that it brought unsettling memories back to him. Temari had to lightly push him back out and shook her head at him. "Just stay right there, Gaara." She told him before watching Shikamaru hurry into the room to help Sakura.

"Help me, Shikamaru! I've got to get him to stop so I can see what he did to himself!" Sakura shouted over Tobi's screams. She winced when Tobi accidently elbowed her jaw but she didn't pay any attention to it at all as she wrestled with him, trying to keep himself from hurting anymore and drowning himself on his own blood. Shikamaru, however, grabbed a sedative from his hip pouch and quickly stabbed it into Tobi's thrashing leg. It only took a moment to kick in and when it did, Tobi's screams slowly came to a stop and he stopped moving, sleeping because of the drug. Once he was down, Sakura quickly grabbed the bloodied mask over his face and pulled it off to see the damage, only to gasp and drop it. The mask fell and broken into several pieces. But no one seemed to care. All three, Sakura, Shikamaru and Temari gaped at Tobi's face with a look of horror.

Tobi's face was completely covered in blood but it was clear where it was coming from. Where Tobi's good eye, his right eye had been, there was now a gaping hole. It was pumping out blood, yet there was no eye there. It was gone.

"Oh, my God!!" Sakura shrieked as she as she looked at her patient with horror. She couldn't believe this! Someone had removed Tobi's one good eye and he was bleeding very badly. Swearing several choice words, she grabbed at Tobi's arm and tried to stand up. "Shikamaru! Help me! We've got to get him into the ER right now! I've got to treat him immediately or he's going to bleed to death!" She yelled at the security guard who didn't move just yet.

That is until Temari rushed forward and slapped the back of his head to get him to focus before she began grabbing at Tobi's leg to help them. Gaara hesitated in the doorway after watching for a minute before he took a deep breath and hurried to help.

Together all four rushed Tobi to one of the medical stations, leaving a thick trail of blood behind them. At that time, the power and flickered back on and some guards caught sight of what had happened. They only looked on with horror and shock as they watched the four carry a bleeding patient to the medical rooms. As soon as they reached the room, Sakura had everyone set Tobi down on the bed before she began rushing all over the room, grabbing supplies that she needed to save Tobi's life. She ripped open drawers and pulled out needles and bandages then threw open cubboards and took out small bottles of medicine and morphine. "Shikamaru! Gaara! Please, I can't do this by myself! I need your help! Wash your hands very well and then help me!" She told them as she hurried back over to Tobi and set down all of her supplies.

"Uh, Sakura." Shikamaru said frowning. "I hate to point this out but neither Gaara or I are in the medical field. I'm a security guard. He's a mental patient. How are we suppose to......?"

Sakura whirled around and gave him a sharp look but shook her head before she whirled back and grabbed an IV stuck it into Tobi's arm. Then she quickly attatched a small oxygen mask to Tobi's face. "I can't do this alone, Shikamaru! Please! You are very smart! You have an IQ of 200! Just do what I tell you and when I tell you! I can't let Tobi die! I have to save him! But I can't do that without your help!" She yelled at him before grabbing a sanitized rag and began wiping the blood off Tobi's face as much as she could. "Temari, can you call for Orochimaru and Kabuto and see if they're in the building still! I'll need their help if Shikamaru doesn't help!" She shot the security guard a look who groaned and rolled his eyes before he yanked off his jacket and threw it to the side.

Temari was already making several calls on her cellphone. She was in a fit of panic, herself. After seeing all of that blood and seeing what had happened to him, she had already called for Chiyo and Madara, to let them know there had been a terrible accident. But she nodded as she was out of the room, leaving them to work on Tobi.

Gaara, however, unlike Shikamaru, had already moved over to the sink and began washing his hands for sanitation before hurrying over to Sakura's side, keeping rather calm unlike her. He knew that there would be time for panic later. But right now, they had a life to save. Sakura smiled at both of the men before she began to work immediately. She was not going to let Tobi die!

It was very late in the evening, or very early in the morning, Sakura wasn't too sure what time it was, by the time she was done. By that time, the Suna Asylum was more alive than ever. The word had gone out and drew back several doctors, including Chiyo, Sasori and Madara. They had rushed from their homes back to the hospital to see what had happened. And when Madara found out that it was Obito Uchiha who had been attacked this time, he nearly had his own panic attack. He immediately began yelling at guards, demanding to know how in the hell this had happened and who was responsible for it! Even Kakashi and several ANBU showed up, which the silver-white haired ANBU was freaking out. He came in a terrible state, asking for Tobi's state but no one really could tell him and he wasn't allowed into the medical room. Nor was anyone else.

It had taken a long time to finally get Orochimaru's pale butt out of the morgue to come help save Tobi's life, but by the time he even showed up with Kabuto, Sakura was almost done.

Quite a few people were shocked to see that Gaara was helping Sakura save Tobi's life and some of the guards had started forward to grab him, that is until they found three pairs of eyes sharply look at them and giving them the most coldest looks. Sakura, Gaara and Temari's actually. They gave them a dark look, daring them to interrupt now. So they backed off.

Almost an hour and a half later, Sakura stated that Tobi was now stabilized.

She came out of the room, covered in sweat and Tobi's blood, beyond exhausted. So did Gaara and Shikamaru, who had washed their hands and arms, though they couldn't do much about the blood covering their clothes. All three looked very tired from the major excitement. They came out of the room and looked at the many eyes that were on them.

"Sakura, how is Obito?" Madara asked once he finally calmed down but there was no doubt a lot of worry in his eyes as he looked at the pink haired doctor.

Sakura let out a long sigh as she went over to the nearest chair and sank down next to a very pale Kakashi who was staring at the wall across of them. She merely glanced at him with a look of sympathy but she shook her head as she turned her eyes back to Madara. "He's not in good shape. He's lost a lot of blood. We're going to need to do a blood transfusion. I've managed to stop most of the bleeding and seal up the wound." She lowered her head again with light sigh. "As for what happened to him, someone cut out his eye. It was a clean cut, so they obviously knew what they were doing. They simply dug into his fucking eye socket, grabbed the eye and pulled it before cutting it with a sharp blade!" She said sounding very angry, yet in a lot of pain. "If I didn't find him when I did, he could have bled to death!!"

No one spoke as they watched the raging pink haired doctor with a great amount of pity. Kakashi had finally looked at her with his own grief before putting his arm around her shoulders to comfort her. He made her lean against him while she almost starting crying. If anyone would have been looking, they would have seen Gaara's face darken but then it disappeared again. He knew very well that there was no use to getting annoyed. He knew that he couldn't comfort her in front of everyone. So it had to be someone else right now. He would do it later when he had the chance.

"Who could have done this terrible act?" Orochimaru suddenly spoke up but it didn't sound like he was in any sympathy at all.

Sakura's head came up sharply to look up at him before her face darkened and she stood up sharply, moving towards him, which made the pale doctor step back in alarm, as well as everyone. "Where the hell were you?! You were here in the Asylum still, weren't you?! I asked Temari to call for you to help me with Tobi and you sure took your damn precious time on getting up here!" She yelled at him.

Offended, Orochimaru glared at her as he held up his hands in his own defense. "Excuse me, Dr. Haruno, but even if I was still here in the hospital, I do need my own sleep! I fell asleep in my office, if that pleases you to know!" He said just as angrily of being accused of something.

"All right! That's enough, Sakura!" Chiyo suddenly said as she held up her hands to calm everyone down.

Sighing, Sakura backed away from Orochimaru and she ran her fingers through her hair, trying to calm herself down. "I'm sorry. I just.....I was so scared just now. We almost lost Tobi during the proceedure and I'm so tired. If it wasn't for Shikamaru and Gaara helping me, we would have lost him." She told them as she went back and sank down into the chair. She felt Kakashi place his arm around her and knew that Gaara must have been having a little fit, which is why she glanced up at him. But she was surprised to see him watching with a passive look on his face. So he didn't seem too bothered by it.

"Yes, I'm curious to know why he is out of his room. Or how he got out of it in the first place." Kabuto remarked giving the red haired patient a dry look, who shot it right back at him.

Sakura felt herself hold her breath as she glanced at Gaara then over at Temari. She knew that if anyone found out what she had done, she would be in so much trouble. And so would Temari and Shikamaru, even though the blonde owned the building herself. She had done some quick thinking before answering."I....I opened his room right after the lights went out." She announced, making all look at her. "When the lights went out, I was a little worried about my patients so I wanted to check on them. Gaara's room was the closest so I checked it first. But I heard Tobi so I went to check on him next." She told everyone.

No one spoke for a long moment before Chiyo took a deep breath and looked around at everyone. "We are all clearly very exhausted after this little mess. I am glad that Tobi's doing all right now. And it's all thanks to Sakura." She said, smiling faintly at the pink haired doctor.

Sakura couldn't really smile back.

Madara, however, smiled at her as did most. He looked rather grateful for her and even offered his hand, which she took slowly. "Sakura, thank you so much for saving the life of my relative. I don't know what I would do if I lost another family member." He told her running his fingers through his hair. Finally, Sakura smiled faintly before looking at Gaara, whose own lip curved at the corner as he looked directly into her eyes. "Well, I think we've had enough excitement for one day." Madara continued, looking around. "We will have someone clean up the mess that was made and I will personally watch over Obito."

"If you don't mind, I would like to stay here as well." Kakashi spoke up, looking up at Madara. "I can't sleep now after what's happened to 'Bito. I'd like to stay by his side."

Madara only nodded, along with Chiyo as she eyed Kakashi. She actually seemed very keen to the idea of having an ANBU sticking around. "That would be just fine, Mr. Hatake." She looked over at Sakura, giving her an ancient smile. "Sakura, you go home and get some sleep. You look exhausted." She told her.

"I wonder why." Kabuto remarked dryly under his breath.

Stiffening, Sakura merely glanced at him, noting how he was somewhat glaring at her in his own little way. There was something about that look on his face that she didn't like. She wasn't too sure if he knew what she had done that night with Gaara or it was the fact that she had yelled at Orochimaru for not hurrying it up to help her save Tobi's life. She saw from the corner of her eye that Gaara was giving the silver haired assistant a very dark look but stopped when Temari lightly jabbed him in the side.

Chiyo and most of the others didn't seem to notice at all. They were too busy trying to figure out who could have done this terrible act to Tobi. The old woman looked at Baki as he returned from where ever he had been. "Baki, did you check the security system?" She asked.

Baki sighed as he shook his head. "I looked at the tapes, Ms. Chiyo, but there is nothing. The power outage knocked out the security cameras with the power. So whoever attacked Tobi wasn't caught on tape. They must have known that when they turned off the power. I just don't see how they could have knocked out the power and then run all the way to Tobi's room to assault him." He told her.

"Let's not worry about it right now." Chiyo sighed before looking around herself. "Everyone, go home and get some sleep, if you can. Sakura, why don't you take your patient back to his room? Nara, escort them there and then take her to her office so she can gather her things. Sakura, just go home. Get some sleep and then come back in the morning. We'll try to have some information on this so it'll rest your mind." She told her.

Sakura only nodded before looking to Shikamaru and Gaara as they turned and started down the hall. Temari was going just for the hell of it.

The four of them walked in silence to Gaara's room, merely glancing at the guards that passed by who didn't pay any attention to them in return. Once they got there, Shikamaru held open the door to let both Sakura and Gaara slip in to bade each other good night. He only stood in the doorway to make it look not too conspicious.

"Well, this evening didn't go the way we had it planned exactly." Sakura said with a sigh as she leaned against the wall of Gaara's room.

Gaara looked at her for a moment before his lips curved and he moved closer to her, placing his hands on either side of her head. His eyes looked right into hers and they both tried to smile a little at each other, then he lowered his head closer to hers and pressed his lips against hers. Sakura complied with his kiss and even let him inside of her mouth, whereas they shared a passionate but short kiss. The red head leaned his forehead against hers as soon as he pulled away. "Thank you." He whispered to her in a quiet voice.

Sakura looked into his sea-foam colored eyes with her sweet smile as she stared at him. "For what?" She whispered right back, her eyes flickering over ot Shikamaru's back, who was doing his best to block out their little conversation by talking to Temari.

"You're teaching me how to live again." Gaara just said quietly, making her look at him with some surprise. He only shook his head against hers as he looked right into her eyes. "Before you came, I always thought about death and blood. But, you've been changing that for me. Believe it or not."

Smiling, Sakura reached up and rest her hand behind his neck before kissing him again gently. They kissed each other for a moment before pulling away. "And you're teaching me how to be brave. I never thought I would ever meet someone like you, Gaara. I thought I would have been stuck with someone like.....well, you know." She told him in a low voice.

"He will never touch you again if I have anything to say about it." Gaara said in a dark voice but was smirking at her.

Sakura just smiled back before she placed her hand against his chest and lightly pushed him away before she moved a little towards the door, keeping her eyes on him. "I know. You will always be there to protect me, won't you?" She then shrugged. "Thank you for helping me with Tobi. Because of your help, we saved his life." She sighed softly, stopping in the doorway, looking at him. "Or we might have made it worst for him. I don't know."

Gaara shook his head as he remained right where he was, looking right into her eyes and his lips curved softly. "He'll be just fine if he has you as his doctor. I turned out all right, didn't I? I might still be a little crazy, but I think I'm finding a piece of mind." He remarked.

Smiling, Sakura just shook her head as she looked right into his eyes. She didn't think he was crazy for a second. Maybe a little unstable, yes. But he wasn't crazy. "Good night, Gaara. I'll see you tomorrow." She told him in a quiet voice. She waited for a second to see him give her a nod before she turned and left the room, waiting for Shikamaru to close the door and then start walking with her and Temari. She had to smile at the blonde woman when she did.

"Thank you, Sakura." Temari only said before taking her hand and giving it a light squeeze. "Gaara will be just fine with your help."

"I'm starting to think so too." Shikamaru remarked as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. He only shrugged but was smiling a little. "He's definitely changing a little since we even first met him in that room. Before, he was so violent and so cold tempered. He kind still is. But now, he seems more there, more focused than before."

Smiling, Sakura only shrugged as she thought about it. She knew that he had a point. Gaara was a lot different from before. He had changed over the past month since she even started working at the Suna Asylum. She was glad for that. She was glad that she was actually making a difference for such a dangerous and unstable patient. She knew soon enough, he would be just fine. It made her heart soar a little to think of how their relationship was going to go after his release. She was almost excited for it.

But....then she thought about what happened to Tobi.

She felt her smile fade away immediately as she thought about all the blood she had seen and what she had done to stop it. And she couldn't believe someone would do that to him. Of all of the people in the entire hospital, the so called "Devil" chose Tobi. She felt for him. She knew that things were going to change too fast and too hard for him. Before, he had only been partial blind. Now, he was completely blind. Blind and mentally unstable, Tobi was in for the roughest part of his life. Sakura knew that a lot of work had to be done with him if he pulled through. It was going to be the most challenging situation she had ever gone through. She felt tears starting to sting her eyes as she thought more and more about it. How was she going to help Tobi now?

* * *

That night, Sakura returned to her apartment, only to find Itachi there. She had been surprised that he had returned. She had been expecting him to be out all night, hanging out with Kisame and Gai. But no, he was sitting on the couch, staring at the wall in thought. That is until she came in. Then he looked up at her when she entered the apartment.

It didn't take too long for Sakura to break down a little, thinking about Tobi. She stared at Itachi for a long while before bursting into tears and letting her brother figure try and comfort her. She told him what happened, not going on the details with her night with Gaara. That had not been any of his business. But she explained to Itachi on Tobi's case, fighting herself from crying. It didn't work. She ended up crying for her patient but smiling a little when Itachi reassured her that things were going to be okay.

However, he went really quiet after she was finished telling what she might have to do for Tobi. He looked so passive as he stared off away from her. But finally, he tilted his head towards Sakura, looking as if he had something to say. "Sakura," He murmured quietly. "I thinks it's time I told you the truth."

Sakura looked up at him with a frown, looking confused. "What? What do you mean?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Why I killed my parents." Itachi began turning his head away just as she looked up at him in surprise. He just shook his head, keeping his eyes adverted from her. It was like he was too ashamed to look at her. "The night I killed them, I'll never forget it. I was at Kisame's when I recieved a call from one of uncle's. I can't really remember who it was. He told me he heard crashes from within the house and heard my father yelling at someone. You probably remember that Sasuke's and my father had a quite the temper. So it was normal for my father to be yelling at someone. But my uncle said that there was something off about the way he was yelling." He lift his head a little and looked at Sakura. "I went home that night to find out what was going on." He cut himself off.

".....wh-what did you see, Itachi? What was wrong?" Sakura asked, hesitating. She wasn't sure she wanted to know what Itachi saw that night and it was making her a little uncomfortable.

Itachi turned his gaze away from her again, not answering just yet. His dark eyes had hardened greatly as if the memory of it angered him, or pained him. He eventually closed his eyes, and shook his head. "The house was a wreck as if my father had really lost his temper. He must have torn it all up. He was really angry about something that night. That, and drunk." He took a deep breath and lift his dark eyes to Sakura, who was listening very closely. "I found my mother's body in the hall."

Gasping sharply, Sakura clapped her hand over her mouth, looking horrified. "You! So you didn't kill your mother then!" she gasped.

"I might as well had." Itachi murmured before looking right into her eyes. "I pulled my fathe'rs tanto from her chest. If I left it in longer and called the authorities, she might have lived. But I took it out of her and she died because I did it." He lowered his head again, thoughtfully. "As my father, I found him in his bed. He was drunk, obviously." He lift his dark eyes, showing Sakura how dark his eyes had gotten at the memory. There was actually a look of hate in them as he remembered. It startled her a little but she paid no mind to it. She knew it was for Itachi's father. "With Sasuke. He had sexually abused my little brother."

Again, Sakura gasped and covered her mouth, horrified at the news. "Oh......my...." She couldn't even finish what she wanted to say. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Your father....he....."

Itachi only nodded as he looked away again. "He raped his own son, Sakura. He was just there, lying unconscious. Sasuke had been beaten a little and he couldn't really remember what happened that night. He only woke up to me slicing my father to pieces with his own katana. I saw red when I saw what my father had done. And I could not stop myself from murdering him. That's why Sasuke hates me. He believed I murdered both of our parents. I may have not exactly killed my mother, but I never corrected them. It was my uncle, Madara who convinced the court that I was mentally unstable and not fit to go to the prison. It was him that had me brought me to Suna Asylum." He told her.

There was a very long silence between him and Sakura. Neither one said a word as they just stared at one another. She was in shock though. She couldn't believe a word that Itachi had said. She couldn't believe of what happened to Sasuke. It had explained a lot now that she thought about it. Sasuke hated Itachi for the death of their parents and for a good reason. But he couldn't remember why his older brother murdered their father. But it somewhat explained why Sasuke was so obsessed with sex.

Sex had ruined his life and he didn't remember why.

After a long time, Sakura's face softened and she lowered her head, letting out a low sigh. "Itachi, I wish you would have just told me." She whispered before taking his hand into hers, giving it a light squeeze. "I wish you had trusted me with that information. It really hurt me when Sasuke told me that you were dead. And then I find you at the Asylum and you don't tell me why you were there." She sighed emotionally before planting her hand against her forehead because of an on coming headache.

Itachi faintly smiled but shook his head as gave her own hand a light squeeze of his own. "I'm sorry. I will trust you more often with information. I won't hide things from you again, little sister. I promise." He told her gently.

Sakura just smiled up at him, thankful that he was opening up to her again. She was so glad that they were doing okay like they had before. Still, her smile fading a little, she thought about what happened to Tobi and everyone else. Her mind immediately went to the murders and she felt a shiver run through her spine. She knew it caught Itachi's attention because he was looking at her. "Itachi," Sakura said slowly, looking away thoughtfully. "About the Asylum murders. I have to find a way to stop them. I can't let them keep going on and hurting the patients." She looked up at him, meeting his dark eyes with her emerald green ones. "What can you tell me about the 'Devil' and the murders?" She asked, a little anxious.

There was a pause between them before Itachi looked away, shaking his head. "I really can't say anything, Sakura. I never really paid attention to them when they happened. I heard things, yes. But because of my own pit of insanity that I stuck myself in, I didn't listen too well." He ran his fingers through his long hair. "All I know is that the 'Devil' frightens every single patient in the entire Asylum. Even some of the highly dangerous ones. But that's all know." He told her before looking at her again. "Sakura, don't get yourself in danger. You should drop that subject because you will get hurt if you don't."

"I can't, Itachi." Sakura told him with a light sigh. "The other doctors think the 'Devil' might be Gaara. And I know it's not him. He was with.....well, he was with me when Tobi was attacked. And he's not a murderer. I know with all my heart that he's not."

"Just please, please be careful, Sakura." Itachi implored her. "If anything happens to you, I will never forgive myself. And I will never forgive you for letting something happen to you."

Sakura just smiled before she laid her head against Itachi's shoulder and looked sleepily at the wall. She was just thankful that Itachi was being himself around her. He had always been protective of her when they were younger. She remembered how many times when she even first met Sasuke and then his family, he had bullied the bullies that picked on her. "I promise, Itachi. I will be careful." She whispered to him before closing her eyes.

A minute later, she fell asleep against him.

* * *

Author's Note:

I have to say this, but it was really amusing getting all of the reviews for this chapter. I know I scared the whole lot of you when Tobi was attacked. Believe me, I was cringing at the time I wrote that part. I knew very well that I was going to get those reactions. Anyway, no worries. Tobi is alive and somewhat well. He's only blind, which I'm sad to say. But I swear, things are going to be okay for him. You'll see in the next chapter.

Oh, btw, StarKiss666. Yes, some of your guesses are right. But you will come to know the truth soon enough. ^___^

Again, I'm sorry about the long wait for the next chapter. My computer crashed and I had to get it fixed before I could update. Plus, I'm working on another project at the same time. It's not really easy at all.


	15. Chapter 15

Title: The Devil's Whisper

Short Summary:  
Sakura is a Psychiatrist for a mental hospital for the Konoha Hospital who then gets moved to her dream job in the Suna Hospital for the Criminally Insane to take care of a very dangerous patient named Gaara. WARNING! Sasuke bashing!!

Pairings:  
Sakura/Sasuke (minor), Sakura/Gaara

Warning: Story contains implied and/ or scenes of: major language, torture, rape, angst, adult scenes, violence and probably more…

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of its characters. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

**Chapter XV**

Sakura had made up her mind when she got to the Asylum. She had been thinking about the murders, and Tobi and even Gaara all morning long when she woke up in her bed. She remembered she had fallen asleep on the couch with Itachi but knew that her brother figure must have put her to bed the night before. She was still feeling a little groggy but not too bad. And the more she thought about the murders and what happened to Tobi, she made up her mind that she was going to do something about it. She was not going to let some creep hurt her patients and get away with it.

So when she arrived at the Asylum, she immediately went to check on Tobi. He was still in the room where she had left him the night before. He was still asleep as far she was concerned but his breathing was pretty raspy. The nurse who had been put in charge of watching him had taken control and set up a blood transfusion for him. Sakura was really happy about that.

Sighing gently, she ran her fingers through Tobi's thick black hair, shaking her head. "Oh, Tobi. I'll find out who did this to you. I swear it." She whispered to her patient before getting into her pocket as she headed out. She immediately dialed the number for Baki and asked him to meet at one of her patient's rooms.

At the chosen room, she found him there. Smiling at him, Sakura had him open the door and let her in. Her emerald green eyes found Pein's back as he stood in front of his window. He was just staring out at the scenery outside, still as marble. Glancing at Baki to dismiss him, she took a few steps towards her patient. "How are you today, Nagato?" She asked, quietly. She recieved no answer from him at all, or acknowledgement. Sighing, she went over and leaned against the desk in his room. "Nagato, can you please look at me?" But he didn't answer or comply. Sighing again, Sakura ran her fingers through her hair. "Pein, please. I need your help." She told him, hoping that using the name he preferred, he would answer.

Finally, he turned his head towards her, looking at her blankly. He stared at her for a very long moment before turning fully towards her, staring. "What?" He asked in his dangerously low voice. He sounded very impatient though.

A little satisfied, Sakura took a deep breath and looked right into his strange amber colored eyes, trying to give him a light smile. "Pein, I'm your doctor but I don't know how to help you because I don't know why you're even here at the Asylum. There is no information about you at all." She let out another sigh, shaking her head. "I hope some time you will confide in me. But that's not what I want to talk to you about." She folded her arms, still looking into his eyes. "Last night, Tobi was attacked by the 'Devil'. He's doing a little better if not for the fact that he's lost his remaining sight completely. He's blind because the 'Devil' tore out his only good eye. I'm scared for all my patients. Even you. I can't let the 'Devil' hurt any of you again. But I don't know what to do to protect all of you. The only thing I can think of is if I find the killer myself. But I don't know anything about the murderer. And I don't even think the other staff knows about it other than the basic facts. He strikes at night when it's practically dead and it's always a patient. They turn out missing for a day or two and then turn up brutally murdered. But that's all." She shook her head, looking almost helpless. "I know that the patients know about the murderer, but you're all afraid of telling anyone. Please, Pein. Tell me what you know. That way I can stop this from happening. You never know if the next victim will be you. I can't let him hurt you or any of the others. Please, let me help."

Pein didn't say anything for a very long time before looking away, turning his back to her. He looked almost as if he wasn't going to answer. There was a very long eerie silence and Sakura didn't like it. But finally, the orange haired patient turned slightly back, but didn't look at her. "If you're smart, Doctor Haruno, you will drop this. Because the last time that a doctor or a nurse got involved with the 'Devil's' affair, they were savagely murdered." He finally looked at her with a dark gaze. "I like you, Doctor. That's why I'm only telling you this. Drop it or you will be the 'Devil's' next victim." He told her in his low tone.

Somewhat taken back by surprise, Sakura just shook her head. "Pein, please. I want to help you. If you know who it is......"

"I don't." Pein almost said sharply, his eyes flashing only once. "But if I did, I wouldn't tell you for your own safety. This is the only warning I'm giving you, doctor. Drop it or you will be the next one to die." And he went quiet for the rest of Sakura's visit, refusing to answer again.

Disappointed, Sakura left his room and decided to take the next step. If he wouldn't tell her, she would have to go to the next possible person who might tell her. Her mind was either on Gaara or Deidara. She just didn't trust Hidan enough to tell her anything about the 'Devil'.

Upon entering Deidara's room, Sakura gave Baki a smile and just dismissed him. She stated to him that she didn't need him to linger around while she dealt with this patient. Baki knew that she had a point. She got along very well with the clay bomber very well and they acted as if they were good friends. The blonde sure treated her like she was his best friend. Since she even entered his room, he began grinning and looked excited to see her. So Baki left Sakura with her patient, going on his rounds.

"Hello, Deidara." Sakura said smiling almost slyly. She didn't forget so easily of what Temari had revealed to her the day before. She knew very well of her patient's secret and she thought it was best to use that secret to get information from him. "How are you today?"

Deidara grinned as he immediately began making clay figures, moving his hands rapidly as he worked. He made several figures that Sakura didn't even recognize nor did she really care about them. "I'm great, doctor, un! I've been working on my own little story just like the one you told us about! I would like to tell it to you and the others in the next session, un! Would you like to hear it?!" He asked with excitement.

Smiling, Sakura shook her head as she sat down next to the desk where Deidara was forming his clay figures. She bit her lip with hesitation before taking a deep breath. "I'd love to hear about it, Deidara. But not right now. In the next session, you can tell us your story. You can even tell us your story with your clay figures." She almost laughed when Deidara looked very excited and even started to bounce on his chair as he nodded. She let out a light sigh, glancing at the door before moving closer to her patient. "Deidara, I need your help."

Still grinning like an idiot, Deidara kept on forming more and more figures with his clay. He didn't even seem to hear how anxious Sakura had gotten. "What is it, Doctor Haruno? Do you need help with your own clay figures, un? I would be more than......." He was saying.

"Deidara, I know about you and Sasori." Sakura whispered gently.

Truth be told, Deidara went very pale and he accidently crushed his clay art in his hands. He looked extremely startled, looking wide eyed up at Sakura. He looked almost terrified but with only a few milliseconds, he tried to cover it up but grinning. "Doctor Akasuna is such a great artist like me, un! We are both such good friends......" He cut himself off when Sakura smiled gently at him and raised her eyebrow at him. Almost crestfallen, he slouched in his chair, looking at her in pain. "Who told you, un?" He asked weakly.

Sakura smiled gently at him but shook her head as she reached over and placed her hand onto his shoulder. "Temari. But don't be mad at her. She only told me because I was terrified about my own secret. I promise, I'm not going to tell anyone. I swear it on any type of friendship we have together." She promised.

Still a little nervous, Deidara tilted his head and stared up at him. "Why did she tell you? She promise me and Danna that she would never, ever tell anyone, un." He murmured.

Sakura dipped her head a little lower, but kept her faint smile. "Deidara, like I said, she told me because I was terrified because......well," She pulled a face before moving slightly closer to him as if afraid that someone might hear them, even though they were the only ones in the room. "I just started an affair with Gaara." She whispered.

Deidara's eyes snapped wide open and his jaw fell nearly to his chest as he stared up at his doctor before he let out a sharp laugh and stared at her as if she was crazy. "You and Sabaku?" He whispered in disbelief before running his fingers through his long bangs, still laughing a little as if he couldn't believe it at all. "Oh, wow, un. Babe, you've seriously got a death wish, don't you? Or at least, you're crazier than he is."

Giving him a very dry stare, Sakura frowned. "Deidara, Gaara's not crazy. Maybe a little unstable but he's not crazy and he's not as dangerous as you and everyone thinks. He's been through a lot of shit very much like how you or I. Or even any of the other patients for that matter. If you knew what he'd been through, you would understand." She shook her head. "Besides, it just happened. Everything just exploded and happened too fast for any one of us. Besides, I'm not even going to ask how you and Sasori fell in love. As you're not going to ask me. Now are you?"

Deidara made a face, realizing that she was being dead serious. So with a deep sigh, he shook his head. "As long as you don't tell anyone about me and Danna, I won't tell anyone about you and Mr. I'm-So-Scary." He grinned when Sakura laughed at the nickname he gave Gaara. But with a shrug, he went on. "So, you said you needed my help, un?"

All humor gone, Sakura's face fell to a look of saddness and she nodded as she ran her fingers through her pink bangs, pushing them back. "You probably heard about Tobi, didn't you?" She saw Deidara's face fall and he solemnly nodded. "He's in critical condition, Deidara. He's completely blind because the killer cut out his only eye. I don't even have a clue of how I'm going to help him get through this."

"You'll find some way, un. You found a way to get through to Gaara, didn't ya?" Deidara said, trying to smile ather.

Gently smiling, Sakura gave him a thankful smile. She knew very well that he was trying to perk her up a little. She just hoped that he was right and that he could help Tobi with his new problem. "I hope so." She shook her head, now looking serious. "I can't let that happen again, Deidara. I can't let the so called 'Devil' hurt any of the patients anymore. I need to find out who he is and why he is doing this. More importantly, I need to stop him. And to do that, I need to know more about him." She told him.

Now looking very serious, Deidara shook his head. He was already getting the idea of where she was trying to get at this. And he looked pretty nervous about what she was trying to ask of him. "Doctor, don't go there. You're better off not getting closer to the 'Devil's' activities, un. The last time a doctor did that, they ended up having their entire insides ripped out from their belly button and their skin nearly stripped off the muscles." He told her in a very serious tone. "Please, don't not try and find the 'Devil.' I don't want to see you get killed, un."

A little un-nerved about hearing that violent bit, Sakura still shook her head as she swallowed hard. "Deidara, what happened to Tobi hurt me really bad. I can't stand the fact that he was savagely hurt like that. And I will be damned before I let it happen to any of my other patients. That includes you. You're in as much danger as any one of the other patients are." She shook her head again. "I will do every thing in my power to make sure that the 'Devil' pays his own sins. I will die before I let him hurt anyone again." She told him seriously.

"That's what I'm afraid of, un." sighed Deidara.

Sakura let out a frustrated sigh and shook her head as she gave Deidara a square look. She knew very well that he didn't have the intention of telling her anything. "Deidara, please. I need your help. I have to stop this. It's not like I'm going to be looking for him on my own. I have an ANBU that's searching for the truth behind Gaara's murder against his father. He didn't kill his father. He hasn't killed anyone. Never." She told him before shaking her head. "Deidara, Obito Uchiha can't see because this maniac. He's going to be like a kid who lost his sight. He's going to panic and he's not going to be the same Tobi as we know. I don't know how I'm going to help him. The only thing I can think of is finding the guy who did this to him. Now, will you help me or not?"

There was a very long silence between Sakura and Deidara as they just stared at one another. Neither one couldn't speak but just stare. And for a long time, Deidara shook his head before letting out a very frustrated sigh and looking away. He was thinking very hard about what he was going to say. He knew very well that his doctor wasn't going to give up on this.

Letting out another sigh, he met Sakura's emerald green eyes with his sky blue ones. "The Devil mostly strikes once a few several months, un. But as we can see, he's become a little more frequent with his victims. The last he did that it was because someone was getting too close to finding out the truth." He shook his head as he ran his fingers through his hair. "So that must mean, you're way too close to the killer. If you don't be careful, you will end up as the next victim, Sakura Haruno, un. As for when he strikes, it's mostly dead of the night when he does. Three o'clock in the morning at the most, yeah. The victims usually go missing, dragged down to The Devil's Whisper." He explained.

That name made a shiver run right through Sakura and she stared at him with upmost nervousness. "The Devil's Whisper? Wh-what is that?" She asked uneasily.

Deidara shook his head as he looked into her eyes. "To be honest, I'm not even sure myself, un. There are rumors saying that it's a gateway to Hell, as if we don't live there now. They say that the Devil whispers out of the gateway to his victims and draws them in, where he does God knows what to them. The more dull rumors say it's just a hidden room in the Asylum. This hospital is full of them, un. Sasori-Danna told me that before it became a hospital, it used to some kind of fortress nearly hundreds of years ago. A terrible shiek used to rule Sunagakure and he used this fortress as his palace, un. He built many chambers and rooms to live in and hide his gold and jewels. But there was just one room that only he alone was allowed in. And that was The Devil's Whisper. No one knows where it's at, un. Danna told me that the hospital has been searched time after time trying to locate that room but its never been found. It might have been a torture room that was built for the interrogation of enemies. All I know is there had been stories of screams from somewhere down on the bottom floor, yeah." He told her.

"The Isolation section." Sakura breathed. She had to admit it, her heart was pounding a little in fear. She didn't like this story too much and it was scaring her a little.

Deidara only nodded as she stared into her eyes, his head moving just a little closer to Sakura's. "The Isolation floor, yeah. You can't ever tell now if there are screams going on down there because there is always screams down there. You would think that it was just the mental patients. But you never would know," His face darkened a little as he glanced away from her. "The screams that you hear down there might as well be the screams of the Devil's next victim, un?" He explained.

A chill ran through Sakura as her heart sped up. She had to admit it now. She was officially creeped out. And it didn't help of what Deidara did next.

A sudden grin showed up on his boyish handsome face before he reached out and grabbed her arm too fast for her to register and merely said, "Boo!"

Jumping and yelping in alarm and fear, Sakura nearly fell back off her chair where she was sitting. However, the only reason why she didn't fall was because Deidara was still holding her arm and was cackling madly. He obviously thought her reaction was hilarious. It only took her a few seconds to realize what just happened. And when it settled into her mind, she glared at him. "Oh! Deidara, you asshole! You just told me that story to scare me!" She growled at him.

Deidara finally let go of her arm and bent over as his laughs became a little louder and more obnoxious. He was laughing so hard that there were nearly tears coming out of his eyes now. That is until Sakura lightly slapped him over the head. Still somewhat laughing, he tried to glare at her. "Ow! Why....heh, heh, why'd you slap me? That's abu....heh, heh, heh, that's abusing your patients, un?!"

Obviously, it didn't work very well.

"Because you fucking scared me, you ass." Sakura grumbled now folding her arms and pouting a little. "Besides, you're only pretending to be a patient. So that means, you're not exactly a mentally unstable unless you can count of trying to scare the bejesus out of a Psychiatrist who is in charge of your meds."

Still laughing, Deidara shook his head and leaned back against his desk. "Heh, I don't even take those things, yeah?" He tossed his thumb towards the window. "I toss them out the window when the man-nurses thinks I take them. They only think I take them because I hide the pills in the far corner of my mouth." He pointed at his cheek. "It's the best way of hiding pills, un. You stick the pill up between your far back tooth and your lip and they can barely see it. The nurse don't look up there because they think the patients are always trying to hide the pills under their tongues, un? Besides, they won't go poking around in the mouth knowing that one of the patients might try and bite their fingers off." He told her.

Sakura had to smile in awe. She hadn't heard about that way of hiding pills. She was used to her patients trying to hide their pills but she had never actually heard of someone hiding their pills in their cheeks. "Cool." She had to remark. But then she let out a sigh and shook her head. "So that story about the Devil's Whisper is not....."

Now Deidara was frowning and looking serious again. "No. It's true. I wasn't shitting you about that, un. I don't know if the Devil's Whisper actually exists but there is some records of the hidden chamber being somewhere in the hospital. Like I said, no one knows where to find it, un." He told her.

Just then the door to Deidara's room opened and Baki stuck his head in. He looked around before letting his eyes fall onto Sakura and Deidara when they looked up at him. The blonde, however, immediately put on his crazy grin and held up one of his clay models to Sakura as if giving it to her. Catching on, Sakura took it with a smile before looking at Baki. "Baki, right on que. I'm finishing up here." She looked at Deidara, giving him a gentle smile. "Thank you again for this, Deidara. You can be such a sweetheart." She told him as she reached over and gently patted his head before standing up.

"Remember, Doctor! I get to tell my story at the next group session, un!" Deidara said in his childish way. Sakura nodded before making her way towards the door. She paused only once to look at Deidara, who's smile faded a little. Then he mouthed, 'Please, be careful.'

Sakura only nodded before leaving the room with Baki, who of course hadn't even seen what Deidara did. She closed the door before turning to Baki, smiling at him. "So, how did your rounds go?" She asked in her friendly way.

Baki faintly smiled at her as he lead her down the hall, his hands stuffed into his pockets. "It went well, doctor. Since last night's attack, none of the patients have decided to be any trouble. Tobi was well known by some of the patients and I am glad to say that several of the other patients were fond of him." He told her quietly.

"You mean, they ARE fond of him." Sakura told him, frowning. "He's not dead and he's not going to die. He's going to be fine."

Baki had to smile at her words and even nodded. He really hoped that she was right about that. "I hope so, Doctor. Speaking of which, I just spoke to Madara Uchiha and he's asked for you to join him and Mr. Hatake in Tobi's room. It seems that your patient has woken up." He told her.

Her attention perking up sharply, Sakura looked wide eyed up at him before she looked forward again. She had not expected Tobi to wake up so soon, more or less, she didn't hear any shouting or screaming. She was sure that once Tobi had woken up, he would do it kicking and screaming and just having a panic attack for not being able to see. Her heart now thumping heavily, she picked up her speed and hurried quickly down the hall with Baki right behind her. She wanted to make sure that Tobi was all right.

Of course, she was in for a big surprise when she got there.

Arriving at the room where Tobi was being kept, she was surprised to hear silence. There were no screams or shouts. It was just quiet. There were even some guards right outside the room, and yet, for the first since she even started working at the Suna Asylum, they looked shocked.

"What is it?! Is he okay?!" Sakur asked, now starting to panic before hurrying to the door where she was was met by a very shocked looking Kankuro and Temari. "Temari! Kankuro! Is Tobi......?!"

"You are SO not going to believe this, Sakura." Kankuro said, not hiding his awe.

Frowning, Sakura looked from one to the other before she pushed past them into the room and looked around. She wasn't surprised to see that the room held Chiyo and Madara, as well as Kakashi. Sasori was even in there, looking somewhat awed. They were all just standing around Tobi's bed where her patient was laying. Like the night before, he looked terrible. His black spiky hair pointed in every direction and was obviously dirty from lack of hygiene. There were bandages wrapped around his eyes but it was clear that he was awake. He had turned his head when Sakura entered.

Kakashi was standing exactly by Tobi's bed, holding his hand as if he would a brother or just a very good friend. There was a smile on his face so that was a good sign. His eyes met Sakura's and the smile grew a little bigger. "Sakura, I don't think you're going to believe this." He told her.

"Tobi." Sakura said, now moving forward to stand right beside her patient's bed, being very careful though. She did not want to scare him. "It's me, Sakura. I'm sorry. I forgot to bring you an orange today. I hope you'll forgive me. How are you feeling? You okay?"

Tobi gave a light, yet weak laugh before shaking his head, keeping his face inclined towards her. It still surprised Sakura that he hadn't had a panic attack. She had expecting......."I guess I feel like shit, Doctor Haruno." came Tobi's answer.

Sakura's mouth fell open and her eyes nearly bugged out. She couldn't believe his answer, or the fact that he was not talking like he usually did. "What?!" She gasped.

"That is not Tobi who is talking, Sakura." Chiyo said chuckling gently.

Slowly, Sakura rose her hands and covered her mouth as she stared down at none other than the former person Tobi had been. "O-Obi-Obito Uchiha?" She whispered. Her shock made a few others laugh quietly as they looked around at one another. They knew exactly how she felt. They had felt the same shock when Obito even started talking to them in a normal way.

'Tobi' just weakly laughed before grimacing as if his head started hurting, and it probably was. He gave a low groan as he tightened his hand around Kakashi's before letting out a long sigh. He tilted his head towards Sakura again when she joined Kakashi to holding his hand. "I.....I want to th-thank you.....for what you've been trying to do for me, Doctor." He spoke in a weak whisper.

Sakura gave him a gentle smile, yet was still very surprised by what was just revealed. She looked around at everyone, wanting the answer of what exactly was going on. "How did.....what.....?" She couldn't find the right words to even ask.

Madara just shook his head as he folded one arm over his chest and used the other to cup his chin. He was definitely still in shock and wonder. His eyes were really dark as he stared down at 'Tobi' with all the wonder he could muster. "We're not even sure ourselves, Sakura. He just woke up from a nightmare, which Kakashi was doing his best to keeping him calm. And he just started asking questions about what happened and where he was. He doesn't even have a clue what's happened to him as Tobi." He told her.

Sasori shook his head as he lift his amber colored eyes and looked right at Sakura. "It could be the trauma, Doctor Haruno, that Tobi went through last night. His injuries, his near-death experience." He shook his head again as he looked back at Tobi. "I've heard of these things happening. They're rare cases but they do happen. When an unstable patient that has gone through something like Obito has goes through a terrible near-death trauma, it can sometimes jump start somethig within the brain. It can cause either two things. One, being the most likability, making a patient go even more unstable and quite hard to handle with. Or two, jump start every memory that they have forgotten. The injury Obito had that caused him to become Tobi in the first place is still there. We haven't seen the last of Tobi. But he's more......in tuned with his surroundings. It'll be more than likely he'll become a patient with a split personality. He'll bounce back and forth from being Obito to Tobi then back to Obito now and then." He explained.

Sakura slowly nodded as she took in the information. She had read about something like that too but had never seen any cases of it happening. She knew that if Tobi had a least a little peice of mind, it would be easier to work with him. However, question was, did he remember anything? She looked at Obito Uchiha. "Tob.....Obito, I know it must hurt to think. And I am so sorry for what has happened to you. I swear we will find the asshole who did this to you." She said, with some hostility. Her words surprised the others a little.

"Heh......" Obito weakly laughed but shook his head. "Heh, no wonder Kakashi spoke so highly of you.....you've obviously got a temper...just like......just like Rin had." He grimaced before pulling his hand loose from Sakura's and clapped it to his head as if it was causing him a lot of pain.

"Bito, don't think right now. You need....." Kakashi was saying.

However, Sakura shook her head. She knew she shouldn't but she wanted to find out what happened. "No. I need him to think, Kakashi." She recieved several surprised looks. But she chose to ignore everyone staring at her. Instead, she gently placed a hand onto Obito's shoulder. "Obito, I know you're hurting terribly. And I know that you need as much rest as you can get. But I need you to think. I need you to try and remember what happened to you last night." She told him.

"Doctor Haruno! Obito needs rest not an interrogation!" Madara said sharply, now not amused with her questioning.

Sakura turned her head and looked pleadingly up at him. She knew that it was just his concern for his relative but she couldn't stop. "Dr. Uchiha, I'm sorry. But we have to find out who did this!"

"He needs rest, Sakura." Chiyo said sternly.

"I know! But what if the so called 'Devil' strikes again, Ms. Chiyo!" Sakura said not liking it any more than the others did.

Obito gave a low hiss as he clutched his head with one hand. No one but Kakashi really noticed. He looked very worried for his best friend but spared a glance at Sakura. He didn't like it at all that Sakura was trying to ask questions now but he knew why she was doing it. So he moved a little closer to Obito. "Obito, I know it hurts. But can you remember anything?" He asked catching everyone's attention.

"Mr. Hatake! Obito....." Madara was saying.

Kakashi shot the doctor a look. "Doctor Uchiha, I fully know and agree that Obito needs rest. I think I'm the most concerned here because I grew up with Obito. You ignored him for most of your childhood days together until his accident." He said sharply. Then he glanced over at Sakura, who looked somewhat surprised but curious of what he meant. "But Sakura is trying to stop a killer here. And Obito is the only victim that has ever survived the murderer. I want him to go to sleep and get some rest. But I want this motherfucker found first." He turned his attention back onto a grimacing and groaning Obito. "Bito, try to remember." He told him gently.

Obito hissed again as he now grabbed a fistful of his own hair and clenched his teeth tightly. It didn't help any at all when the bandages started to seep red. So obviously, he was trying clench his eyes, which were not even there. That was when Sakura grew worried and she shook her head. "Obito, don't think too hard. Don't think if it's going to hurt you......" She said, now frantic.

"It was dark." Obito cut her off suddenly making everyone go very quiet. No one spoke as they watched him try to think. "I.....I don't remember.....I....." He grimaced again. "I can't......there was a flash.....something hit some kind of light that was shining through the window.....glasses, maybe. I don't....maybe the blade." He groaned again clutching his hair more tightly until his knuckles became white and his breathing hitched sharply. "Something grabbed Tobi.....me....." He was saying, his voice now starting to take on a childish sound. The familiar voice that usually belonged to Tobi.

Her eyes starting to tear up, Sakura took her patient's hand and held it tightly. "Tobi....." She whispered.

And that's when the panic kicked in for her patient. Obito became Tobi again and he started to scream and kick. Kakashi grabbed a hold of Tobi's arm and shoulder, trying to keep him pinned down to his bed. Sakura had to jump back when Tobi became a little more violent, trying to hit at anything that he couldn't see. She moved back when Baki hurried forward and tried to help Kakashi pin down the patient.

Sakura couldn't handle that. She turned sharply to leave. She couldn't stand hearing Tobi screaming like that. It hurt her heart too much. Tears starting to trail down her cheeks, she started to leave with Temari, who put an arm around her shoulders to comfort her.

"NO! NO, no, no, NOOO!! TOBI......! TOBI MUST STOP.....HIM! HE'LL HURT SAKURA!! SAKURA!!" Tobi shouted as he screamed and kicked, trying to shove Kakashi and Baki off of him.

As if punched in the stomach, Sakura stopped immediately in the doorway before whirling around with everyone. Nearly all activity stopped other than Tobi throwing a fit. Baki and Kakashi were still trying to pin him down but they were now looking wide eyed at Sakura or at Tobi. "Wh-what?" Sakura asked before hurrying back over to Tobi's bedside, grabbing his arm. "Tobi, Tobi! It's me, Sakura! Calm down!" She shouted over his screaming.

"SAKURA, SAKURA, SAKURA!!!!" Tobi kept on screaming.

Sakura shook her head as she quickly placed a hand on top of his head trying to run her fingers through his hair in a soothing manner. "Tobi! I'm here!" She shouted again, but trying to be gentle about it. She began to make soothing sounds and hearing her voice, Tobi slowly quieted. "Tobi, it's okay. I'm here. It's Sakura. Sakura is here with you."

Sniffling, Tobi quickly lashed out a hand and wrapped it around Sakura's wrist. He held onto her tightly, too tightly that it hurt. But Sakura knew very well that her patient didn't mean to. She winced a little but held up a hand when Baki moved to try and pry Tobi's hand off of her arm.

"Tobi," Sakura whispered gently as she used her other hand to rub soothingly along Tobi's his arm. She was trying to calm him down and get him to loosen his grip on her. "It's okay. Sakura is here. Sakura will protect you."

Tobi shook his head, sniffling heavily. Too heavily that he ended up snorting but there was really nothing funny about it even if some would laugh. He shook his head again and again but did loosen his grip a little. "Sakura don't protect Tobi! Tobi protect Sakura! Tobi won't let the bad man hurt her!" He cried now turning a little so that he use his other hand to wrap around her and pull her closer. He was sure taking his new situation of being blind well enough though.

"What do you mean, Tobi? What did the bad man say to you?" Sakura asked as she continued to run her fingers through his hair. She felt like a mother trying to sooth her child, even though it should have been reversed.

"....To-Tobi.......To-Tobi can't......Tobi can't see! Bad man......! Bad man took Tobi's eye.....!" sniffled Tobi, shaking his head sharply. "But Tobi don't care! Tobi protect Sakura from bad man! Tobi won't let bad man hurt Sakura!"

"Tobi," Sakura gently again. "Sakura will be fine. But I need you to tell Sakura what happened last night."

There was a very long silence as Tobi began to sob red through the bandages. He sounded like he was in pain and it was no doubt that he was. But everyone knew his cries. He wasn't really crying for his pain. It was something else. Something they hadn't heard yet. "Tobi......" He cried. "Tobi saw bad man......bad man came in to Tobi's room.......the darkness! Tobi don't like the dark! It's sooooo dark!" He cried harder.

"I'm here, Tobi! I won't leave you in the darkness alone." Sakura quickly said, trying to keep him calm.

Sniffling harder, Tobi nodded as he turned onto his side, tilting his head upward towards Sakura, still clutching onto her. "Bad man......! Bad man said he wanted to Tobi to tell Sakura that......that Bad man wants Sakura to stop! Bad man said tell Sakura to stop or he will.....!! He will hurt Sakura! Tobi don't want Sakura to be hurt! Tobi will KILL Bad man if he does!! He said rather viciously.

Sakura would have smiled if the situation wasn't so serious. She shushed him gently as she moved closer and wrapped an arm across Tobi, letting him clutch onto her as she pressed her forehead against his. "It's okay, Tobi. Sakura will not be hurt. Tobi doesn't need to kill anyone. Sakura will safe." She tried to reassure him.

"......Sakura......" Tobi whimpered before loosing his grip. "Tobi knows. Tobi knows that Love Gar won't let Sakura be hurt."

"Love Gar?" Snorted Kankuro as he looked around at everyone, which everyone had to frown at or look amused. "I could only wonder who that is."

Even Sakura had to smile weakly at that. She knew very well who Tobi was talking about. It seemed that even to Tobi that it was obvious that there was something between Sakura and Gaara. She just hoped that their relationship would get them into really serious trouble. "Tobi, do you know who Bad Man is? Who hurt Tobi?" She asked almost in a whisper.

Sniffing, Tobi shook his head. "Bad man.....bad man.....bad man.....bad man...bad silver bad man......" He muttered over and over again. And then he drifted off to sleep, too weary of his wounds.

Still, those words put ice in Sakura's heart as she listened to them. She wasn't too sure if Tobi was trying to tell her that there was something silver about his attacker or he had silver-gray hair. Nervously, she looked at Kakashi, who looked just as shocked and worried. She knew very well that it wouldn't have been Kakashi who Tobi was talking about. Kakashi would never hurt anyone that he was close to. Obito or Sakura. He wouldn't even hurt anyone innocent. So she knew it wasn't him. That left her with several other suspects.

Sakura turned and looked wide eyed at everyone, who looked just as stunned. Everyone couldn't believe what they had heard. And they all knew what they heard. Temari and Kankuro looked at each other with almost fear in their eyes before looking back at Sakura. "Sakura......"

"Sakura has just been named the next victim." Madara said, now sounding very serious before he turned sharply towards Chiyo. "Ms. Chiyo, I don't like this at all. I think it best if we had her leave the Suna Asylum for her own safety now. She should not work here if she's going to be danger."

"What?!" Sakura and Temari gasped, both horrified.

Kakashi shook his head as he looked directly at Madara, looking just as serious. He didn't like the fact that Sakura was going to be in danger either but he knew for certain that making her leave wouldn't help anyone. "That's not going to do anything, Madara! Sakura will not be safe out there anymore than she is here!" He told him sternly.

Chiyo shook her head as she looked at the ANBU, somewhat agreeing with Madara. She did not want Sakura to be the next victim and knew the only way to make sure that didn't happen was to make sure she left the Asylum. "Mr. Hatake, how is she going to not be safe out there when the murderer is somewhere in this hospital?"

"Because if she leaves the Asylum, who do you think will be after her?" Kakashi asked, sharply. "Sasuke is still out there and we have no idea where he is. It's like he completely vanished out of thin air. She goes out there, he could pounce on her. Besides, I don't think the murderer is a patient. It's a doctor!"

That made everyone shut up and look at him with alarm and shock. It was like the mystery had just been revealed to them then and there. But the only problem was, who was Kakashi accusing?

"A doctor?" Madara asked skeptically.

Kakashi shook his head as he stood up completely straight and looked almost menacingly at Madara Uchiha. It was only then did Sakura realize that there was no friendship between these two. Just by judging the way they were looking at each other. She had not noticed it before but there was a hatred in each of their eyes.

"That's a pretty serious accusation, Mr. Hatake." Sasori finally spoke up, yet sounding very blank. Everyone looked at him and noticed that he was almost the only one that didn't look surprised or stunned about the whole situation. "How do you know it's a doctor and not a patient? There are nearly hundreds of insane criminals in this entire Asylum. Most of them are murderers. How do you know that none of them are the killer?"

Again Kakashi shook his head as he glanced over at Sakura then back around at everyone. "Because," He began. "Last night, the power went out and all of the emergency locks on ALL of the doors activated. No patient could get out of their rooms without an Doctor's card. And no patient could use the doctor's card from within their room because the locks are only on the outside." He shook his head. "Shikamaru pointed that out to me this morning when he did some investigating of his own. Only a doctor could use their card to get into the room and Obito's room was the only one that was opened and he was the one that was attacked."

"Kakashi, who do you think did it?" Sakura asked, almost weakly.

The ANBU shook his head. "I don't know. But I suggest we gather up every single silver haired doctor and nurse and make them leave. As for the patients with silver hair, you're just going to have to keep them locked up in their rooms for a while until we can figure this all out." He told everyone, looking at Baki to see if he agreed.

And to his satisfaction, Baki was nodding before he looked at Chiyo. "Ms. Chiyo, forgive me for disagreeing with you. But making Doctor Haruno leave will make things worst. And she will not be safe out there any more than she is in here. If this so called 'Devil' is a doctor, he can easily go after her out there just as he can here. And what then? We'll be one less doctor that can control Gaara Sabaku and Tobi. And who knows who else? She actually got Pein to talk and he's never said a word since he's been here. No one has ever heard him say anything. Even with his girlfriend, Miss Tenchi coming to see him." He remarked. "Hidan is the only patient of hers who still crazy as ever."

"Grandmother," Sasori spke up again, surprising everyone. It was the first time he actually acknowledged Chiyo as his grandmother in front of Sakura. "Baki has a point and so does Kakashi. We force Doctor Haruno out right now, we only cause our selves a bigger problem. Gaara will throw a fit and we'll have his violent tempers all over again."

Chiyo sighed as she reached up and rubbed the bridge of her nose in frustration. She really did not want Sakura to be in such danger. But she knew that all three men, the ANBU, the Security guard and her grandson had a point. With a light sigh, she looked at Sakura again, almost seriously. "Sakura, if you stay, you will be in danger. You might even die. You realize that don't you?" She told her, up straight and simple.

Sakura drew back for only a second before her face grew serious and she nodded. She knew Chiyo was right. If she truly was to be the next victim, she could die. But she couldn't bear the thought of leaving the Suna Asylum. Not now. Not after she had just formed a relationship with Gaara and certainly not let him be in danger of the 'Devil'. She had to try and protect Tobi as well. And Deidara and Pein. And even the most insane Hidan. She couldn't let what happened to Tobi happen to them. "I know." She remarked, being very honest. "But I won't let this murderer hurt my patients again. Even if I'm in the path of danger. That's what this job is anyway. I'm working with mentally unstable, dangerous patients. I'm in danger no matter what but I do it because I want to help them anyway. And I will not let some murderer scare me away."

Some of the room's occupants had to smile at her bold words, but Madara was not one of them. He didn't look happy at all as he just stared blankly right at Sakura. "This is a big mistake keeping her here." He said before he turned and left the room swiftly, not even apologizing when he bumped into Kankuro, who swore after him.

Sakura was a little taken back by Madara's new mood towards her. She was confused of why he was acting like he was. And a little hurt. She had liked Madara before but now.....he wasn't really being so nice.

"Sakura, forgive Madara. He's just very concerned about you. He does not want you to get hurt." Chiyo blurted out.

The pink haired doctor looked at the ancient woman but had to slowly smile as she nodded. She knew that must have been it too. Madara did seem the kind to concern himself with the other's affairs. Especially when they were in such danger. "I know. But like I said, I won't leave my patients being in such danger. Firing me just to make sure I stay safe from a madman won't stop me from trying to protect my patients." She told her.

Baki's radio then crackled to life, making a few look at him but not really pay too much attention to him as he pulled it off his belt and told whoever it was to go ahead.

_"Baki, he's here." _came the only answer.

That got Sakura's attention. She looked right at the Security guard with a frown before looking around at everyone else. Kakashi looked on with the same amount of confusion while everyone who was apart of the Suna Asylum looked flustered or very annoyed. "What? Who's here?" She asked, in concern.

Temari let out a long sigh but shook her head as she folded her arms across her chest. "The one person you really don't want to meet but most likely he'll search you out anyway. The bastard that we warned you about from the International Board of Mental Health. Danzo Root. The IBMH found out about last night's attack and all of the other shit that's been going on. So he's coming in to finding out what the hell is going on." She admitted.

"Not to mention, that old wrinkly ass, Wie has been writing to the IBMH and complaining about how unfair the Asylum's been about his separation." Kankuro said just as nastily.

Frustrated at the memory of the former Psychiatrist, Sakura let out a long sigh. She should have realized that they hadn't heard the last of that man. She knew this was going to be a big problem. Just as frustrated, Chiyo was already moving towards the door. "I think it best we go meet Danzo then before he comes looking for us. Sakura, you best come with us. Danzo will probably want to meet you to see what Wie is complaining about." She then groaned. "But whatever you do, be more than polite to him. He's quite the sexist. He doesn't like women and think they don't belong in this kind of field. So don't speak unless he speaks to you." She warned her.

"Pretty much don't breath while around him." Kankuro said darkly folding his arms across his chest as he moved out of the way for everyone to come out. "This guy is definitely going to push her buttons, Chiyo. You know that."

"Yes. I do. He does it to everyone. But it will serve her good if she tries to keep patient with him." Chiyo remarked. She looked over at Kakashi, who hadn't moved from Tobi's side at all. She nodded her approval for him to stay, knowing it was probably for the best.

All of a sudden, Sakura wasn't entirely sure she wanted to meet this Danzo anymore. It sounded like she was about to meet Satan himself.

The search for the Danzo fellow wasn't too long but it was delayed for a very good reason. Or at least, a bad reason. But it was a reason that Sakura never wanted to approach again. She was not aware that she was about to come to terms with her own past.

As Sakura walked with Temari and Kankuro, she felt very worried about the new situation. She had yet to meet with Gaara and knew that he must have been wondering where she was. It was almost about the time she usually met him for their daily check ups. Not to mention, she felt a little giddy thinking about what he was going to do when she even went to see him. She felt the butterflies in her stomach as she smiled, thinking about him. She wanted to feel his lips on hers again and his skin on her skin. Her heart thumped against her chest and she knew that she was smiling.

"I see someone is day-dreaming." Came Temari's amused whisper next to her ear.

Sakura's head came up sharply as she looked at Temari but she couldn't stop the wide smile on her face from spreading and the bubble of laughter escaped her, thankfully quiet so that no one else but Kankuro and, unfortunately, Sasori noticed. Both men looked at the giggling pair of women, raising their eyebrows.

"Go away." Temari tried to growl, glaring playfully at them but then she laughed, joined by Sakura.

"Women!" Kankuro grumbled and sped up to walk beside Baki instead.

Sasori, however, pulled his speed back and now walked beside a somewhat surprised Sakura and Temari. He just turned his eyes onto the pinkette's and looked right into them, as if he was searching for something. It almost made her blush, feeling a little flustered. For a moment, Sasori stared but then his lips curved upward into a smirk and he tore his gaze away. "So, you have a new companion."

Sakura did blush this time, her eyes wide as she stared at him. "Wh-What?" She asked, nervously.

"I'm not stupid, Doctor Haruno." Sasori said quiet as he turned his amber colored eyes onto her, then looked at Temari. "Temari, did you honestly think you're the only one who talks to Madam Kiki at the Sex Bunny Lingerie."

Temari's face fell and she glared at him. "Aww, shit." She groaned. Even Sakura's face paled as she looked wide eyed at Sasori. "I am so not going to talk in her shop again."

Sasori smirked as he turned his gaze away for a long moment then looked at Sakura again. "I won't tell anyone about you and your new lover if you don't tell about me and mine. I am annoyed that Temari," He shot his cousin a look and the blonde grimaced. "Temari broke her promise into not telling anyone but I understand why. So if you do not tell anyone about me and Dei. I won't say anything about you and my cousin."

"Uh......" Sakura squeaked.

"It wasn't just Madam Kiki." Sasori told her in a low voice. "I was watching you very closely last night and saw the way that you and he looked at one another. No one else noticed as far as I am concerned. So you don't have to worry too much about anyone blabbing your little secret." He turned his amber eyes back onto her again, shaking his head. "And I won't tell anyone as long as you don't."

Sakura stared at him for a moment before she gave him a gentle smile and then held up a finger across her lips, as if telling him to shush. The rosette doctor only smiled right back and nodded before his face returned to being almost an emotionless and looking blankly forward again. Sakura glanced back at Temari, who grinned right back at her.

It was right at that moment did they turn the corner after everyone else did Sakura walk straight into them.

Her body colliding with two others, she yelped as she staggered back, dropping her purse. But she honestly didn't care about it. She was just worried about the two men she just walked right into. "Oh! I am so sorry! I didn't see you......!" She gasped as she turned her eyes upward to look at the men before her. And then she let out a startled scream, though it was more like a yelp as she jumped away from them, looking at the two men with shock.

The two men were a pair of twins, both quite identical to the other. They both had the same build, the same hair and eye color. They both had white-gray hair with steel gray eyes smirking at the very sight of her. The only difference between the men was that one of them was a Goth while the other wasn't. They both had piercings on their lips, near their chins and at least five times along their ears. The Goth brother was not hiding the fact that he was Goth by wearing dark purple eyeshadow and dark lip stick. Both wore black baggy jeans, yet the Goth wore a deep purple vest and the other wore a dark blue one. And they were both looking at Sakura with smirks, their eyes looking her over, as if checking her out.

"Oh, my. A little in a hurry, don't you think?" The Goth asked.

"Hmm. We're not hurt, darling, but you really should watch what you're going. You might run into someone that you don't want to." The Punk brother remarked, chuckling.

Sakura stepped back away from them, looking both over with shock before she let out a shaky breath. She couldn't believe her eyes. She recognized them. But what the hell were they doing here?! And if they were there, did that mean.....?!

"Sakura? Are you okay?" Temari asked, frowning with Sasori, who were both looking rather concerned when they saw how terrified she looked.

Both twins blinked only once when they heard the pinkette's name before their eyes brightened at the same time. They obviously recognized it. "Sakura......?" The Goth's eyes then grew even brighter and his smirk grew pretty smug. "Well, well, well, my dear brother. It's been nearly fourteen years since we saw Little Pinky, here. I mean, it is you, Pinky, isn't it? Little Pinky Haruno......"

Sakura's eyes flashed dangerously and glared viciously at him, her fist clenched tightly into a ball. "Do not call me that, Sakon! I am not a child any more. What the hell are you and Ukon doing here?!" She demanded.

"Sakura?" Temari asked, now frowning as she looked from her pink haired friend to the twins.

Both of the twins just snickered as they looked at each other. They didn't seem phased by Sakura's ferociousness at all. They actually seemed to have found it amusing. "Oh, twin brother. Looks like our old favorite toy has definitely gotten some spunk over the years." The Punk remarked before looking Sakura over, almost appreciatively and nodded as if he was satisfied with what he saw. "And she's actually grown into a hottie. I wonder if she still has it just like Jirobo said she......"

WHAM!!

Sakura's fist collided with the punk's head, sending him flying backwards and slamming to the ground so hard that there was literately a loud thud echoing in the entire hall way. Anyone in the hall, including Temari gasped sharply or cried out in alarm as they watched the pink haired doctor violently strike a total stranger and sent him skidding almost ten feet away from where she stood.

At the feet of the one person that Sakura never wanted to see again.

"Ukon, even I have to admit that." The man standing above the Punk. The one man that made Sakura's entire face grow white as chalk and her eyes snapped wide open when she saw him. She looked on him with horror and disbelief. "You had that coming."

The man, himself was at least in his late forties, early fifties. He was tall and broad, definitely someone who worked out a little. He was a lot taller than Sakura, that was for sure. He wore nice black slacks and a black button up, short sleeved shirt. In a way, he could have been mistaken as a body guard or something of that sort. His hair was dark as a midnight sky with the exception of silver streaks at his temples. His eyes were emerald green, almost identical to Sakura's. And they were directly on Sakura.

Still staring at her, the man stepped over the Punk twin, who grimaced as he sat himself up and rubbing his chin where the pink haired woman had struck him. He was ignored though by the man and his own twin as they looked right at Sakura. Sakura, however, moved backwards to stay away from him. And seeing that she was moving back away from the man, both Temari and Sasori moved to stand in his path, blocking him from Sakura. They didn't understand who these men were but they understood the fact that Sakura didn't like them.

Slightly taken back, the man looked both very serious looking relatives over before turning his eyes back onto Sakura, who was now glaring at him. "Sakura, you've grown." He remarked.

"Stay the fuck away from me, Hanataro. I don't know what you're doing here but I don't care. I do not want you anywhere near me." Sakura said coldly.

"Sakura? Who is this?" Temari asked, not taking her eyes off the man.

There was no reply for a long minute as Sakura just glared at the man, who merely stared back with no contempt at all that she had spoken to him in such a cold way. Neither one spoke for a moment but then man let out a quiet sigh still not taking hsi eyes off of Sakura. "My name is Hanataro." He paused for a moment. "Hanataro Haruno. I'm Sakura's father."


	16. Chapter 16

Title: The Devil's Whisper

Short Summary:  
Sakura is a Psychiatrist for a mental hospital for the Konoha Hospital who then gets moved to her dream job in the Suna Hospital for the Criminally Insane to take care of a very dangerous patient named Gaara. WARNING! Sasuke bashing!!

Pairings:  
Sakura/Sasuke (minor), Sakura/Gaara

Warning: Story contains implied and/ or scenes of: major language, torture, rape, angst, adult scenes, violence and probably more…

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of its characters. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

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**Warning: Slight Lemon up ahead!**

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**Chapter XVI**

"You ARE NOT my father, Hanataro." Sakura said sharply, yet cold as ice. She knew that she might have looked stone cold on the outside but on the inside, she was trembling violently like a frightened child. Terrible memories were already rushing back to her, evading her mind like a nightmarish movie that she had not wanted to ever see again. She felt like a frightened child again, facing her father who had put her life through hell and made her feel like the most worthless creature in the world. She was facing her own Boogy Man.

Her father.

Hanataro just stared at her through blank eyes, not smiling, yet not looking offended. He just stared into Sakura's eyes while a fair few who knew about Sakura's past with the man glared at him. They remembered what she had said to Gaara about him. They remembered what he had done to torture her as a child.

Temari, like a few, looked at him with disgust as she looked him over, taking in his appearance. Deep within, she couldn't help but think that he was pretty good looking for a much older gentleman. He was rather handsome. But it was the fact that he had tortured her recently made best friend when she was a child. "This is him, Sakura?" She asked, her own voice cold as ice. She didn't even look at Kankuro when he hurried over to stand beside her and Sasori to protect Sakura from her father. She didn't look at him as he raised a fist and cracked his knuckles with his other hand, giving Hanataro Haruno the most deadly look that he could manage.

"He's not my father, Temari. I might have been born to him and my mother, but he's never earned the right to be my father." Sakura said, her voice still very cold as she glared at the man before her.

Hanataro still didn't look offended but his face softened as if he found her words rather amusing and touching. Both Sakon and Ukon, actually stood beside Hanataro, both snorting with wicked humor. The Goth brother shook his head as he folded his arms across his chest. "She's still a rather ungrateful little bitch, isn't she? Guess that couldn't be changed." He remarked.

Sakura shot him a look. "Fuck off, Sakon! What do I have to be grateful towards you or him?! You and Ukon used to molest me whenever you were around!" She snarled at him.

"Please, Pinky. We slapped your butt once or twice. That's not much of molesting anyone." Ukon said, rolling his eyes.

"Stop calling me that!" Sakura demanded. "And it is molesting because it wasn't just touching my ass that you bastards did. You did more than just touch my butt!"

Both twins smirked at her, raising a hand to high five each other to congrats the other for pissing her off. That is until Hanataro reached over and roughly cuffed Sakon over the head, making yelp. "What did I tell you, Sakon?!" He demanded roughly. "I told you that you were to leave her the hell alone if we saw her! Not remind her of what you sick fucks used to do to her! And I warned you both to not ever say that mother fucker's name again in her presence! I brought you two to Suna so that you can go to bother the Strip clubs!"

Even Sakura had to blink in surprise at his words when everyone else did. She couldn't help but think that Hanataro was actually reprimanding his two best friends for messing with her. "Huh? What are you talking about? And what are you even doing here, Hanataro?!" She demanded. "How did you even know I was even here?!"

Hanataro looked over at her, meeting the pair of eyes that matched his own. He stared at her for a moment before shaking his head, surprising Sakura as he looked softly at her. "Sakura, is there any way I can talk to you alone?" he asked, quietly.

"No! I will not be in the same room with you alone! Not after what you put me through!" Sakura said, her body stiffening.

Hanataro just nodded as if he understood before glancing over at Kankuro and Sasori. "All right. Then with those two in the same room with us. But I would really like to talk to you. I will explain what I'm doing here or how I even knew that you were. But not in front of all of these people." He told her.

Sakura hesitated but then she slowly nodded as she looked past him at Chiyo, who had been just as surprised as everyone else at the occurring scene before her. The old woman seemed to understand immediately and motioned for everyone to follow.

The room that Sakura and Hanataro was going to be sitting in was just one of the usual visiting rooms where some of the sessions happened. Kankuro, Temari, whom had refused to leave Sakura's side and Sasori were all in the same room with the two, along with Ukon and Sakon, whom Hanataro told that they were to keep their clap traps shut while he talked with Sakura. They were all very aware that Chiyo, Baki, Shikamaru, and Madara were behind the mirrored wall, watching carefully but not caring.

Both of the twins were seated in chairs, leaning against the walls, while Temari glared over at them from where she was sitting beside Sakura. It was mostly just her, Sakura and Hanataro at the table in the middle of the room while Sasori and Kankuro stood off towards the wall, watching and listening carefully to what was now being said.

"It's been fourteen years, Sakura, and not a day has gone by that I hadn't thought about you and what I did to you when you were a child." Hanataro began quietly, his hands folded together in front of him. His eyes were adverted away from her, staring at his hands. "I know you still hate me, and I can't say that I blame you. I didn't come here to cause you any trouble."

"Then why are you here and who told you that I was here?" Sakura asked stonily.

Running his hand through his midnight hair, Hanataro shook his head before lifting his eyes and looking wearily at her. "I got a call several weeks ago, right after you were attacked by the Uchiha boy." He nodded when Sakura looked surprised. "You're colleague didn't know about what I did to you when he called me at first. I figured that much when about a week after he first called and warned that I was not to come here." He explained.

"Who?!" Sakura demanded.

There was a brief silence in the small room before Hanataro shook his head and looked right over at Sasori, who tore his eyes away. Sakura, Temari and Kankuro looked at the red head with surprise, who didn't say anything for a moment but looked away with forlorn. "Please, Doctor Haruno. Forgive me." The doctor finally spoke, almost in shame.

Sakura stared at him, her heart falling a little but she swallowed hard. She knew she couldn't be too angry with him for calling her father about Sasuke raping her. He hadn't known. He couldn't have until she finally admitted it to Gaara. "Sasori....." She murmured.

"I didn't know, Doctor Haruno, of your relationship with your father at the time. If I had, I would have not tried to find him to let him know that you had been savagely attacked." Sasori explained quietly, keeping his eyes adverted away from her. But after a long while, he finally turned his amber eyes onto her. "I had only thought it was best that your family should have known about what happened to you. But when I learned of what he had done to you, I called him again and told him that he was never to step foot on the hospital grounds." And with those words, he turned his amber eyes onto Hanataro, almost glaring at him now. "I told him if he did come here, I would have him arrested." He almost hissed the words.

Hanataro smiled darkly at Sasori's little threat but shook his head as he looked Sakura, his face softening again. "I won't be angry if you do call the ANBU and have me arrested. I just had to come see you, Sakura. I had to talk to you, even after Tsunade Orihime warned me that I would never approach you again after my arrest." He nodded when Sakura's face twisted into a look of surprise. Taking a deep breath, he lowered his gaze again. "Sakura, after Jirobo raped you, I did everything I could to find you." He told her softly.

"Why?" Sakura asked, her voice ice cold once again. "To punish me?"

Sakon snorted as he folded his hands behind his head but shrugged. "Sakura, babe," He ignored the icy look that the pinkette and the Sabaku siblings shot at him. "After Fatso fucked you, your old man, right there, beat the living shit out of him when he found out what he had done." He told her.

Sakura's mouth fell open in surprise and disbelief as she took in his words. She couldn't believe what he just said. "What?" She asked, her eyes snapping over to Hanataro, who still kept his eyes away from her. "But.....! Jirobo paid you for raping me! You took his money!"

Hanataro shook his head as he let out a light sigh, his eyes still on the table and his hands. "I thought he was paying me for the drugs I had gotten for him, Sakura. I didn't know he was paying for you." He spoke in a very quiet voice. "I swear, that if I had known what he had done to you, I wouldn't have taken that money. And I swear, when I did find out what he had done," He finally lift his eyes and looked right at her. The look in his eyes was almost terrifying though as Sakura saw the dark fury in them. "I swear, when I found out what he had done to you, Sakura, I made him suffer dearly. I beat him viciously that he almost died in that fucking run down house that we lived in. He was in the fucking hospital for nearly three weeks for what I did to him while I was stuck in jail. I fucking castrated that fat fuck. I simply grabbed him but the fucking cock and sliced it off." He growled.

Sakura stared at him with wide eyes as she listened to him. She didn't know if she should believe him but saw the twins now looking very serious and nodding at his words as if trying to convince that what Hanataro was saying was true. Shaking her head, she looked at him almost painfully but in disbelief. "Why?" She almost whispered.

Hanataro just shook his head as his head dipped down a little lower, but his emerald green eyes still pierced hers. "For almost all your life you grew up thinking I hated you, Sakura. Fuck, after all I ever did to you, I don't blame you for thinking that. And I don't, won't blame you if you seriously hate me. I still hate myself. I will always hate myself for what I put you through." He shook his head, folding his hands together again and turning his eyes downward away from her. "While in jail for nearly killing Jirobo, your Guardian showed up, Tsunade. It was right after she met you and found out about what happened to you. She came looking for me and nearly ripped my head off for what I had done. Literately. I had been sleeping when she grabbed me by the hair and slammed my head against the bars." He smiled, almost laughing. "Never in my life had I ever been beaten up by a woman, Sakura. But she beat me good. And the ANBU never stopped her. They were too scared to try to stop her. She demanded answers, asked what happened to you and why the hell I let it happen to you. I told her the truth. She knew all this time of who raped you and what my part in it was. I made her swear never to tell you what I did to Jirobo. I asked her to take care of you and even signed the papers to give you up for adoption. Technically, she became your mother that day."

Sakura still looked pretty surprised. She had nearly smiled when Hanataro explained to her that Tsunade nearly beat the shit out of him. She could actually see Tsunade doing that. And she knew that Tsunade would. She had come so close to beating the shit out Sasuke for what he had put Sakura through. Still, she couldn't smile as she looked into the eyes of the man who sired her. "Why are you here? Technically, you gave me up for adoption. You have no right to come looking for me, Hanataro." She said coolly.

"No. I don't." Hanataro agreed. "But when I got that call from Doctor Sasori about your rape, I kind of went a little nuts."

Sakon snorted very loudly, as he rose an eyebrow and looked at his best friend as if what he had said was an understatement. "You kidding me?! You went postal, man!" He looked over at Sakura. "This fucking guy swore he was going to kill Sasuke if he ever saw him again! I swear.......!"

"Sakon!" Hanataro hissed, shooting him one of the most deadly looks. That look was one that Sakura remembered him giving her when he got angry with her.

"Again?" Temari asked, coldly, feeling just as angry as Sakura.

Hanataro just let out a frustrated sigh before looking at Sakura, directly. He was quiet for a long time before he shook his head. "Sakura, I've met Sasuke Uchiha before. Right before he was attacked and that caused his.....dysfunctions. Before he became the same type of man that I was." He said very darkly. "He actually told me a little about you. He told me that you were doing good and you've become a very intelligent student at the school. One of the smartest students in your classes. Do you know why Sasuke became what he is nowadays?"

Impatiently, Sakura looked away. She was starting to feel uncomfortable. She knew what he was talking about. Somehow, she knew he knew what had happened to Sasuke and his father. And probably what Itachi had done. "Yeah. I do. And I'm not going to talk about it with you." She told him sternly.

"Everyone believes, and I know that everyone believes it because no one ever found out the truth, that Mr. Fugaku Uchiha, Sasuke's father murdered his own wife, raped his own son." Hanataro began, and everything went still in the room. He just shook his head as he continued to look Sakura right in the eyes, who looked stunned and very uncomfortable. "But it's not true, Sakura. Fugaku didn't do that to him. Jirobo did. I know because the fat bastard bragged about it to me and the twins. Then after that, he was caught by the authorities for attempting to rape another girl and was sent to prison. Jirobo had been fucking himself over just because he couldn't keep it in his fucking pants." He shook his head and held up a hand when Sakura opened her mouth to say something. "Someone, I don't even know who it was, hired him to do it, Sakura. Someone put him up to it."

Sakura stared at him in shock but let everything settle in her mind. She couldn't believe it. But who.....why did Itachi....? He had told her that it was his father who had done it! Did he lie?! "But Itachi.....?!" She breathed in pain.

"Itachi Uchiha? The kid who murdered his own father to protect his brother? Yeah. He did it all right, but he missed the memo that it wasn't his father who fucked his son, Sakura!" Hanataro told him before running his fingers through his hair. "That kid, Itachi, doesn't know the truth, Sakura. He doesn't have a clue because no one but me does. Jirobo didn't tell anyone else the truth because right after he was arrested, he was shot in the fucking head before his trial. Someone murdered him to keep him quiet. So that's why Itachi Uchiha was blamed for everything. Him and his old man. And if you want me to, I will testify or whatever to clear Itachi's name, if I have to. What that kid did was only a misunderstanding. He didn't know that it was Jirobo who stuck his mother and fucked his brother while the kid had been drugged." He told her.

"And you were friends with this guy?" Kankuro asked in disgust.

Hanataro looked over at him but then shook his head, as did the twins. "No. Not really. Our friendship broke off a long time ago. When that son of a bitch raped my daughter." He told him. "He only talks to me because he owed me a helluva lot of favors.

"Oh, so now I'm your daughter?! When did you ever come up with that decision that I was your daughter?" Sakura asked roughly.

Hanataro just let out a sigh but didn't say anything as he ran his fingers through his hair. He looked a little frustrated but he was keeping his temper in check pretty well. "Sakura, I never hated you." He held up a hand when she tried to interrupt. "I wanted you to hate me. I wanted you to just despise me. It was me that I hated. I actually adored you from the moment you were born." He nodded when she looked confused. "Sakura, truth be told, I was excited about having a baby. It was your mother who was putting up a fight about having an abortion. She seriously wanted to just have an abortion and didn't want to have a baby. She wanted to kill you, Sakura. But I would not let her. It was true that I wanted a son more than a daughter. I was a little angry that you weren't a boy. But," he paused for a second, his face softening. "The nurse put you in my arms, Sakura and I just stared at you. You were the most beautiful creature I had ever seen. I couldn't believe that I had created this tiny angel. I, who did drugs, got drunk, sometimes even stole things, I created something so pure. I didn't deserve you, Sakura. I wanted to give you up for adoption immediately so that you could live a better life than I could give you. But your mother wouldn't let me. She made me swear that I wouldn't."

Sakura just frowned as she took in his words. She wasn't sure what to believe or to even believe him. She had heard so many lies from this man before that she was so used to his untruthfulness.

However, before she could say anything, Hanataro continued. "She was planning to make money off of you." He looked away when he said that but then looked seriously into her eyes. "She was planning on using you to create a betrothal. She was going to turn you into a whore. That's why I made her leave when you were just a kid. I found she was whoring herself off with other men, and I just had enough of it. I told her if she didn't leave I would make her and she wouldn't like me anymore than she already did." He shook his head looking very grave. "Sakura, she was planning on taking you with her. I know you might have wanted to go with her more than you wanted to stay with me. But I made her leave you with me because I knew that once you stepped out that door with that woman, you would become a prostitute for her money. I would not let her do that to you." He told her.

"But why beat me after that?! You hurt me more than she could have!" Sakura said, her eyes getting a little watery.

Hanataro sighed before resting his hand against his forehead and then running his fingers through his hair. "Sakura, I will never, ever forgive myself for all the pain I put you through. But the only reason I beat you is because I was so immature and you look like so much like your mother." He looked into her eyes, almost painfully. "I hated that woman for what she had done and what she was going to do. I wanted to cause her so much pain because of her ways. But I took them out on you because you look like her. Every time I hit you, I was imaging hitting her." He let out a long drawling sigh as he rest his chin on the back of his hand, propping his head up. "But over the years of being in Konoha County Jail, I learned that when a man hits a woman, he's not a man at all. He's a monster. I took anger management classes, visited with councilors and just tried very hard to change."

"Thus, he leaves jail and becomes a body guard." snorted Sakon, rolling his eyes.

Sakura glanced sharply at the twins, giving them a dirty look before looking back at Hanataro. "A bodyguard?" She asked skeptically, her lip quirking up only a little.

Hanataro just snorted with his own humor before nodding with a soft smile on his face. "There was this guy who I met while in Jail. He wasn't an inmate, but he was coming to the jail every day so that he could talk with the councilors there. He's not the nicest of guys but he did have a little bit of an attitude problem. But more than anyone that I knew, he was a lady's man. He helped me get a better job as a bodyguard, pointed me in the right path." He let out a low hum, smiling coyly at Sakura. "He.....he was my link to you. He told me he knew you at the Konoha Hospital and I asked him why you were at the hospital. He told me that you had become one of the number one nurses there." He told her.

"I am a doctor, Hanataro." Sakura said dryly but she stared at him with a little annoyance. "And let me guess. There is only one lady's man that I know at Konoha. So....Genma?" She asked. Hanataro let out a little laugh but he nodded, knowing how annoyed she was. Throwing her hands up in the air, Sakura gave a very annoyed groan. "Why is that everyone I ever meet or I know always seems to have a connection to you? It's a like freaking circle always spinning around me and I'm trying to keep up with it!"

It couldn't be helped that some of the room's occupants had to laugh or smile at her frustration. But after a few minutes, Temari folded her arms and gave Hanataro a dry smile. "So, why are you here?" She asked just as dryly.

Hanataro glanced at her but looked back at Sakura, who was giving him the same look as if asking the same question. He was only quiet for few seconds before shaking his head. "I came here to make sure you're okay, Sakura. When I got that call from Doctor Akasuna over there," He nodded over to the red haired doctor, whose face darkened and he looked away from them again. "I had to come. I had to make sure that you were safe." He told her.

Sakura shook her head as she folded her arms onto the table and titled her head to the side, giving him a serious look. "I am safe. I am happy here. And I am not going to let you take that away." She said dryly.

"Sakura, I don't plan on taking anything away from you. In fact, I wasn't really planning on talking to you." Hanataro said seriously. "The reason I'm here is to check up on you and because......." He was saying.

Suddenly the door swung open very hard that it hit the wall, startling everyone in the room. Sakura and Temari both jumped in their chairs and let out sharp gasps as they looked up at who just intruded. A second later, Temari let out a disgusted groan as she started glaring at the old man in the doorway.

The man was no doubt in his sixties, most likely late sixties. He was definitely old enough to be someone's grandfather, but he sure didn't look like the grandfather type. He had a very serious exterior look about him. His hair was once black but now turning a deep shade of gray while one eye, his left was very dark. Bandages wrapped around the left side of his face, surprisingly covered the other eye. It was like he had been recently injured but he didn't look injured. He wore a dark gray suit with a long black overcoat that ran down to around his knees. He was resting one arm inside of the coat though, against his stomach while the other hand clutched a long curved cane. He was not a very friendly looking person.

He wasn't alone. There was a young man with him, about Sakura's age, maybe even slightly older by a year or two. He was a serious looking young man, almost as serious as the old man. He was tall and rather thin but there was just something about him that screamed out that you didn't want to mess with him. He had medium long, ink-black hair falling around his face. His complexion was very pale though as if he didn't see much sun at all. He was actually paler than Gaara and that surprised Sakura. He wore all black. A black suit, black shirt, black shoes. He was even wearing black leather gloves on his hands, with only the index finger and thumb cut off on each glove. All black. His facial expression was completely blank though as if he didn't have any emotions at all.

Even though he was very pale and kind of creepy, Sakura had to admit it, he was good looking. There was no doubt that if Sakura's heart didn't now belong to Gaara, she would probably be looking at this guy in a very dreamy way. Still, that blank look on his face made her grimace.

However, what surprised Sakura even more was when Hanataro saw the man, he quickly stood up and stiff as if turning into a human statue. His body went completely straight and his head lift up as he met the old man's eyes. That was actually a look that Sakura had seen before when guards saw someone high ranked and respected. But…..since did Hanataro ever respect anyone?

She found out a second later.

"Mister Danzo, sir." Hanataro said almost emotionlessly.

The old man merely glanced at Hanataro before looking around the room at everyone, though his eyes paused on Sakura. His eye narrowed thoughtfully, but it wasn't exactly a pleasant look and Sakura knew very well that he was judging her. She was used to that kind of look. Then she noticed the slightly younger but still old man standing right behind him.

It was Dr. Wie.

"Well, well. I was wondering where everyone was." The old man, supposedly Danzo, spoke up quietly. He looked over at the mirrored room's door when it opened and the rest of the staff entered. Chiyo and Madara didn't look particular pleased to see the man but they sure had a more pleasant look on their faces than Temari and Kankuro did. "Chiyo Akasuna, I'm surprised that you didn't rush to meet us at the gate. Instead, I had to come look for you. I'm not pleased."

"Since when is he ever pleased." Murmured Kankuro under his breath, only loud enough for Sakura and Temari to hear him.

If Danzo had heard, he didn't pay too much attention to him. He just kept his eye on Chiyo, who moved forward with her hands folded together. The old woman just dipped her head a little to him. "Forgive me then, Danzo. There is a lot that has been distracting my attention at the moment." She said almost too professionally. It wasn't a voice that Sakura was used to but she was sure that the situation called for it right now. Especially if this man was the Head of the International Board of Mental Health.

Danzo, however, just glanced over at Madara, whose face darkened only a little but he kept up a completely professional appearance. "Madara Uchiha." The old man said.

"Danzo Root." Was Madara's reply.

"I've heard what happened to your brother and that's what brought my attention to Suna Asylum." Danzo said. "How is he?"

Sakura blinked only once, quite surprised. She hadn't known about Madara's brother, nor the fact that he even had a brother. Now that she thought about it, she didn't know too much about Madara at all. She hadn't even bothered to ask Itachi about him and exactly how he was his uncle.

Madara's face only darkened a little more but he shook his head as he forced himself to look as passive as he could, folding his hands behind him but keeping his dark eyes on the old man. "He's fine, Danzo. At least he will be. His injuries were very serious but I believe he'll make a full recovery." He then motioned to Sakura. "In fact, it was our Psychiatrist who saved his life last night. If not for her quick thinking, he would have bled to death." He informed the old man.

Something nearly snapped in Sakura's brain as soon as she heard that. Her eyes snapped wide open as she looked over at him, almost in shock. There could only be one person he was talking about. "Obito's your brother?!" She couldn't help but gasp, causing all eyes to snap to her.

Madara merely glanced at her but his lips quirked a little as if he was finding her words amusing. "You obviously didn't read Tobi's records thoroughly, Sakura, if you have to ask that. Yes. Obito Uchiha is my brother." He paused for only a second. "Actually, my half brother. He was the youngest of my brothers and myself. There were four of us. I was the oldest, along with my own brother, Izuna. Then came my step brother, Fugaku Uchiha, as you know who is the father of Itachi and Sasuke. Then Obito, my half brother." He informed her.

"This is her, Danzo!" Wie finally spoke up, jabbing a finger towards Sakura, and making quite a few of the room's occupants look over at him, including Danzo. The look on the former Psychiatrist's face was quite unpleasant though. "This is what they replaced me with! A woman! A pink haired woman who has no business working with dangerous insane criminals like the one's we have!"

A lot of dangerous looks were thrown in Wie's way. Even Hanataro shot the old man a dangerous glare, while Sakon and Ukon were smirking the entire time as if they were finding it all so funny.

But Danzo just looked at Sakura, looking her over before he turned fully towards her and even stepped a little closer to her. "So, you are Doctor Haruno. I've heard a great deal about you from several people, including Ms. Tsunade Orihime of the Konoha Hospital." He said, almost blankly.

Sakura met the old man's one eye before nodding her respective greeting. She had figured that it was best to be polite around him, even if he might push her buttons like Temari and Kankuro was sure that he would. But she would have to try and be patient with him and show him her best manners. "Hello, Mr. Danzo, sir. It's nice to meet you at last. I'm sorry that we did not greet you like we should have. It's just….." She paused for only a second as she glanced over at Hanataro. "I wasn't really expecting to see my father here." She admitted.

Danzo merely glanced over at Hanataro, who met his dark gaze before looking back at the rosette haired girl in front of him. "Yes. I am aware of your relationship between my bodyguard, Hanataro Haruno and yourself. I am also aware that he gave you up for adoption. So the apology is mine for bringing him here when he should be staying away from you." He shook his head before turning his eye as if he was looking over his shoulder. "I've also heard some complaints about you from Dr. Shinzi Wie. He's mentioned that he was unfairly let go and replaced by you. I thought it best to see for myself."

"Danzo, the record of Wie's replacement should have reached you by now." Chiyo said, now coming to Sakura's defense. "Surely….."

"Yes, Chiyo, I received your statement." Danzo interrupted, quite fiercely, his eye narrowing on her. He didn't sound particular fond of her, and he probably wasn't. But he was still very professional and would keep his dislike for her out of the way. "But like I said, I have decided to come see for myself." He turned his eye back onto Sakura, who remained calm. "I would like see your patients, Doctor Haruno. And I mean all of them. That includes, Sabaku. I want to see exactly what you have done with that one."

Sakura looked surprised at his bold statement. She wasn't entirely sure where he was going with this. It did make her a little uneasy to think of what Gaara's reaction might be. She wasn't entirely sure if he would happy to know that Wie was back in the Asylum. But taking a deep breath, she looked at Shikamaru and Baki. "Baki, Shika, can you please gather my patients in the visiting room?" She asked, looking at them. Both Security guards merely glanced at her before nodding and they were hurrying out of the room.

"I don't think it's wise to let that one out of his Isolation room, Danzo." Wie said, sounding only a little nervous. "He's dangerous and very unstable."

A few smiles quirked on many of the faces in the room, though Temari and Kankuro looked the most smug. They looked like they were ready to rub it in about Gaara. "My brother, Dr. Wie, is no longer in Isolation." The blonde beauty said, not helping but sound smug. And her smile curled into a grin when Wie looked surprised. "He's actually been reprieved by Sakura. She's doing such a good job with him that he doesn't even need to be in there."

"WHAT?! YOU'VE LET HIM OUT OF ISOLATION?! WHAT ARE YOU, CRAZY?!" Wie exclaimed, in shock. "He's completely insane and dangerous!! Are you trying to kill most of the people in this hospital?!"

Sakura frowned as she listened to his ranting and raving. She didn't like it at all of all that he was saying about Gaara. In fact, it was building up a fury with in her and she was not going to put up with him. "He's not insane." She said, dryly, shutting him up. "And he's not dangerous. I think he's actually quite the gentleman!"

"What would you know, you pink haired……!" Wie was snapping.

"Wie." Danzo said dryly. He was actually rather quiet about it but it was simple enough to say that the way he said it was dangerous. And it didn't help very much when Hanataro was actually glaring at the old Psychiatrist for snapping at Sakura. He looked as if he wanted to reach over and snap his neck. "That will be enough. I already warned you that you were not to make this about you. This is about the professionalism of Suna Asylum and how things were being run here. You are not to make this some agenda about Doctor Haruno." The Head of the Mental Health board said, very seriously.

His words almost made Sakura shudder. She knew that this definitely not the man she wanted to find out that she had become romantically involved with Gaara Sabaku.

It wasn't very long after did Sakura find herself in the large visiting room with her patients and several others of the staff were standing off to the side, watching her and them. Even Orochimaru had showed up to watch, his eyes trained on Sakura, still unforgiving for her accusation of the night before. Danzo was standing in the middle of Hanataro and the pale young man, who were watching her carefully as she sat nervously in her chair. Sakon and Ukon were sitting in other chairs, looking highly bored. They obviously didn't want to be there if there wasn't going to be any excitement at all.

One by one, Sakura's patients entered the room, minus Tobi. There was no way he could leave his medical room and even Danzo seemed to understand that. He didn't argue at all when Sakura said that Tobi couldn't be there.

Gaara was the last to arrive.

Seeing him made a pleasant tingle run through Sakura's body and she almost smiled lovingly at him when his sea-foam gaze met her own. She desperately wanted to go right up to him and kiss him, his Love tattooed scar, every inch of him. She wanted to feel his skin upon hers again, brushing against her just like he had done the night before. She felt the heat within her stomach and she knew she was starting to get turned on by thinking about him. And she was sure that he felt the same way.

When Gaara entered the room, he immediately looked directly at her and his lips curved a little into his devilish smirk. He felt the same way, wanting to go straight to her and taking her in his arms. But he knew better. He was aware of the audience in the room and knew that it would cost more than her job. It would be like killing her right then and there and he would not do that. He glanced around the room at the room's occupants……

And then his eyes flashed dangerously when he saw Wie. His eyes grew very dark and a snarling look appeared on his face as he glared at him.

Seeing that doctor, he now had a different desire and that was to go right up to that old fruit cake and rip his throat out. Memories of the sessions of that old man came back to Gaara and he almost took a step towards him then. Wie seemed to have seen that because he pressed against the wall, now starting to sweat.

"Gaara." Sakura said quickly, catching that very look on her lover's face, and knowing. She knew that he was tempted of going to harm his former doctor. And she had to make sure that he didn't try it. It would ruin him if he did. She shook her head at him, and motioned to one of the chairs where her patients were sitting. Deidara was sitting right next to her, while Pein was on the other side, yet two seats away from her. Hidan was sitting across from her, messing with another voodoo doll that oddly looked like Kabuto.

Gaara watched her for a moment before shooting Wie a dark look but moving straight over to the group to sit beside her. His eyes never really left the former Psychiatrist's, who looked quite flabbergasted. He had to smirk to see how stunned the old man was right then before meeting Sakura's eyes again. He didn't even bother to hide the smirk he gave her.

Sakura smiled right back, wanting so desperately to kiss him but she fought her desire as hard as she could. She had to tear her eyes away from his so she could glance around at everyone in the circle. Her eyes met Pein's, who looked blank as ever and then to Deidara's, who grinned cheekily at her. But her eyes could only barely flicker to Hidan's, who was looking at her as if she was something to eat. She didn't like that look but it was Hidan. Taking a deep breath, she looked around the circle again. "Hello, everyone. How is everyone today?" She asked.

"I'm good, un!" Deidara said cheerfully while creating new clay models.

Both Gaara and Pein just answered her with nods and Hidan didn't bother to answer her at all. He was just smirking at her. Sakura tried not to let his staring bother her too much. Instead, she glanced over at Danzo, who was watching her dully, as did his pale bodyguard. She noticed how Wie still looked flabbergasted. "We have an important guest today so I want you all on your best behavior." She motioned to the visitors. "Why don't you all just say hello to our guest, Mr. Danzo. He's from the International Board of Mental Health. He's here just to check up on you." She told them.

All four men looked away from her to Danzo, though Gaara's face really darkened to see the old man. He obviously knew who he was and knew that he wasn't a friend of his siblings. But he decided to be polite and gave Danzo a nod much like Pein had. Deidara just waved cheerfully while Hidan rolled his eyes then looked back at Sakura. "So where's that little fuckface, Tobi?" He asked, smirking again.

Sakura stiffened and she was sure she saw Gaara did too as he turned a glare onto the pale haired patient. She felt like reprimanding Hidan for even calling Tobi that. She settled for a look of disapproval. "Hidan, don't call Tobi that. And as you might have heard, he was attacked last night and right now, he's resting." She told him.

"Heh. Oh, I heard about what happened to the fucking retard all right. Who hasn't heard about what fucking happened to him." Hidan said, not sounding the least bit sorry. In fact, he sounded very delighted and that made Sakura want to really give it to him. "So he lost a fucking eye. Boo-hoo. At least he's alive, right?"

"Hidan, stop swearing." Sakura said sternly. "Tobi is in a critical condition. He almost died last night."

Beside her, Gaara was glaring at Hidan but he was keeping his cool just fine, which had Sakura feeling a little thankful next to him. It wasn't surprise to her to see that Deidara had even started glaring at him a little but was trying to keep up a cheerful appearance.

Hidan, however, felt like pushing it today as he looked straight into Sakura's eyes. His head dipped down a little as he gave her an almost devilish look. "It's too bad he didn't. He'd been better off dead than listening to some fucking cunt like you." He told her.

Something snapped in Gaara, for he let out a growl and started to stand up as if to rush at the silver haired patient. He wasn't going to allow him to talk to Sakura like that. And it seemed that was what Wie had been waiting for because he let out a triumph cry and pointed at him. Sakura quickly reached out and grabbed Gaara's hand, lightly pulling him back. "No, Gaara." She told him.

Wham!

It wasn't Gaara's fist who hit met Hidan's face, sending him flying off his chair. It was Deidara's. He had had enough of the voodooist's remarks to Sakura and decided to react. His sudden violence had surprised Sakura though, and most of everyone. She looked at him with that surprise, as did everyone. He had a very serious look on his face, as he stood in front of Hidan, who was on the ground, looking stunned.

"You will not talk to Doctor Haruno like that, un."

"Hidan, you should know better than to talk like that as it is." Pein finally spoke up, his voice very quiet yet dangerous as ever. Sakura looked at both of them, quite surprised. The orange haired patient was eyeing Hidan rather dangerously, yet quite dull like always. "That will get you thrown in the Isolation. As for you, Deidara," He turned his eyes onto the angry blonde, who had not moved at all but continued to glare at Hidan. "You shouldn't resort to hitting others. You know they don't allow it here." He warned him.

Deidara shook his head, letting his long blonde hair bounce a little before he stood up straight and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Doctor Haruno, un. I shouldn't have hit Hidan." He remarked.

Sakura shook her head as she lightly pulled Gaara back into his seat, though it didn't stop him from glaring at Hidan. "It's all right, Deidara. Just let's sit back down and calm down. Hidan, are you all right?" She asked, with only little concern.

Not amused, Hidan pushed himself to his feet and nearly came nose to nose with Deidara, glaring right back at him. They both looked at each other hatefully before they backed away. "I'm fine, bitch." He ignored Gaara when he growled at him. Instead, he looked over at Sakura, reaching up and rubbing his chin. "I heard you were next, _Doctor. _The Devil's coming after you next." He said somewhat smugly.

Beside Sakura, Gaara stiffened and his eyes snapped over to his pink haired doctor, almost too surprised. She, however, kept a stony face and shook her head. "I'm not afraid of the so called Devil, Hidan. A lot of people are telling me that I should be, but I'm not. If he wants a fight, he knows where he can find me." She told him.

Hidan snorted as he smirked at her. "Oh, he'll find you, all right." He told her before turning and moving away from the group.

"Hidan!" Sakura called after him, now standing up. "We're not done here!" She called after him.

"Well, I fucking am. I've got some praying to do before the next sacrifice. Oh," He paused to glance over his shoulder at Deidara, who glared at him. "I've got a message for you too, Dei-Dei. He says back off because HE fucking belongs to him."

No one really knew what Hidan meant by that but Deidara seemed to know. His face fell a little as if taken back by what was said to him, almost surprised. He stepped back once before his face tilted to the side, darkening a little. Sakura followed the tilt of his head and saw Sasori. She knew that must have been who Hidan was talking about. But….who was the other? Was there someone else who wanted Sasori? But….who?

"I think that's enough for now." Danzo suddenly spoke, making Sakura look over at him. He had been watching very carefully the entire time and hadn't said anything when a little violence rose up in the room. Instead, he was taking it very well. "You've proven what I was most concerned about."

Sakura blinked only once but stared at him in confusion. "Huh?" She asked.

Danzo's one good eye turned to look at Gaara, who was staring at him a little darkly. He just tapped his cane against the ground. "As far as I understood, Gaara Sabaku is very unstable and can't be controlled. Once he goes violent, it's better to sedate him to control him." He shook his head before looking at Wie, who seemed to be understanding now and looking quite angry. "Wie, you were wrong. Sakura Haruno is controlling him just fine. I don't see any need to fire her and reinstate you to your former position. Enjoy your retirement."

Sakura's jaw nearly hit her chest, as did everyone else's. Especially Temari and Kankuro's. Out of everyone, they looked the must stunned, other than Wie, who looked out raged. "What?! Danzo! You can't surely mean…….!" He was yelling.

The older man turned his head sharply and looked over at Wie rather darkly. "I do, Wie. And you know I don't kid around. Sakura Haruno stays for now until I see fit to remove her. Keep complaining and arguing with me," He paused, tilting his head to the pale young man, who stepped closer and gave him a look of warning. "And you might not like the results."

Wie stepped back, somewhat taken back with surprise but he scoffed before turning and storming out of the room. Besides Sakura, Gaara smirked, amused and pleased of Wie's disgrace.

"Haruno," Both Sakura and Hanataro's attention perked up when Danzo spoke sharply, looking at him but pausing to glance at one another. The old man just turned his back onto the entire group. "We're leaving. Say your goodbyes now. I will be leaving Sai to keep an eye on things around here. If there is any more mischief making, he will be letting me know." He announced. It took Sakura a moment to figure out who he was talking about before realizing that Sai must have been the pale young man's name, and it didn't skip her attention to see that Temari looked highly disgusted to hear that he was going to be staying. So, obviously his staying was not wanted by the sponsor.

But either way, Sakura was just happy that Danzo hadn't tried to push her buttons like Kankuro said he would. In fact, she had been expecting him to be a total ass.

Then, he stopped in the doorway and turned back, his one eye going straight to Deidara. "Oh. By the way, Sai, keep an eye on that one. I don't think he's truly mentally unstable as he's leading us all on." He stated. Sakura was sure that she wasn't that stiffened. She saw Deidara's shoulders nearly shoot up to level his head and she saw Sasori's eyes light up a little from where he stood, looking at the blonde with blank concern. Even Temari looked a little pale as she looked at Deidara.

The pale bodyguard just bowed his head to old man as he turned and started out of the room, before lifting his blank eyes and looking straight at Deidara, then to Sakura. For a moment, he stared at her, almost pinning her down with his gaze. Then he turned and followed his master.

A lot of pressure was lift right off of Sakura once he had left with the Elderly man. She just felt so relief that he had stopped looking at her. It had been very uncomfortable with him staring at her like that. But she found relief by tearing her eyes away from him and looking at Gaara instead. He had obviously seen the way that 'Sai' had been staring at her and ended up glaring at him. But as if he sensed her eyes, he tore his sea-foam gaze away and met hers. His face had definitely softened a little by meeting her gaze, his lips threatening to smile. She met his smile but then looked over at Deidara with concern. She knew that somehow he must have slipped a little and alerted Danzo's attention to his true stability. The old man was being very suspicious of him and if they weren't all careful, Deidara would be caught. And with him, Sasori.

"All right. I think that's enough excitement for one day." Chiyo broke into everyone's thoughts with a light laugh. She turned towards the door, motioning for Madara to follow her. She glanced over at Sakura, giving her an ancient smile before she left.

Sakura let out a light sigh before smiling at Gaara, Deidara, and even Pein, almost thankfully. Deidara grinned at her while Gaara smirked at her, making her heart nearly take a flip. "Well, today didn't exactly go the way I wanted it to but it could have been worst. Thank you, all of you for being on your best behavior. And for kind of standing up for me." She let out a light sigh before touching her forehead. "I just wish I could get at least somewhere with Hidan."

"Hmph. I don't think you're going to get very far with him, un." Deidara said, folding his arms and narrowing his eyes. "He's a complete jackass."

"Sakura."

The pink haired doctor turned to look at Hanataro as he moved a little closer, giving her a light smile. She wasn't entirely sure she wanted to return the smile but it was a stretch that he was actually being pleasant to her. It wasn't something she was used to at all. "Hanataro." She paused glancing around at her three patients before forcing a smile. She knew that Gaara might not take it very well that this man was her father. "Hanataro, these are my patients." She motioned to Deidara. "Deidara."

"Hello, un!!" The blonde said cheerfully before going back to working on some clay figures that looked oddly like Hidan before attending to crush them, viciously.

Sakura just shook her head, smiling at his behavior before motioning to Pein next. "My patient, Pein." She introduced the orange haired man standing next to her.

Hanataro let out a low chuckle but nodded to him. "Kind of morbid name you have there, don't you think?"

For once since Sakura met him, Pein smirked.

Sakura was surprised at first but decided against to saying anything about Pein's sudden urge to smirk at her father. Instead, she looked at Gaara, almost fondly. In a way, she felt nervous. It was like a daughter introducing her new boyfriend to her father. The only problem was, true as it may be, she did not see Hanataro as her father and Gaara no doubt had a little grudge against him even if this was the first time they would meet. "Hanataro, this is Gaara Sabaku." She said a little nervously. "He…he actually saved my life from Sasuke the night he…well, you know."

Gaara tilted his head towards her, raising an eyebrow. So obviously, he was mildly surprised that this man knew about when the Uchiha raped Sakura. But in truth, he was in for a bigger surprise later on.

Hanataro's eyes lit up pleasantly before he smiled gently at the rosette young man standing beside Sakura. "So you're the one that Doctor Akasuna mentioned. I have to say, if it wasn't for you, something worst could have happened to Sakura. I'm only grateful that you took the liberty to saving her life." He glanced over at Sakura, who was frowning in a little surprise. "I only wish things could have been different."

Again, Gaara raised his very thin eyebrow and looked at Sakura, as if asking what the hell this guy was talking about.

Sheepishly and nervously, Sakura bit her lip before looking at Hanataro. "I don't think it's best if you stay anymore. You should probably catch up to Mr. Danzo before he gets too far." She told him.

It seemed Hanataro guessed what she was really trying to say and seemed to understand very well. Especially when she kept glancing at Gaara as she spoke. With a smile on his face, he looked back at all of the three men. "I don't know Sakura as I used to but from what I've heard, she's a good doctor. I hope you will make the right decision to trust her and let her help you. She has a good heart, unlike her parents." He told them before he turned his eyes back onto Sakura. "I will be staying in Suna for some time, just until things settle down around the Asylum. You might not want me to stick around, Sakura. But I can't leave now. Sometime, I would like to catch up with you and get to know you once again. I hope you will find the patience some day to forgive me for hurting you." He told her before he turned and started towards the door, calling to the twins, waking them up from falling asleep.

"Do I dare to even ask?" Gaara murmured, his head tilting a little close Sakura.

For a moment, Sakura didn't answer but stared at Hanataro's back. She wasn't sure if she could forgive him. But he did seem different. He must have changed over the years. Maybe she should give him a chance. "No." She murmured back to Gaara. "I'll explain later."

And she eventually did.

After everything settled down a little, Sakura made a little visit to each of her patients' rooms, but she was really looking forward to visiting Gaara. She mostly thanked Pein and Deidara for standing up for her against Hidan and even shared a little concern for Deidara.

"I'm sure it'll be okay, but I can't help to worry about you and Sasori, Deidara." Sakura admitted to him. "Does anyone else know about you? Who was Hidan talking about?"

Deidara was staring at some of the clay figures on his desk that he had finished before she had even came. He looked rather thoughtful, yet there was concern in his eyes. He looked a little unsure of what to say. "Doctor Sakura, do you think you can do something for me, un?" He asked, quietly.

Sakura blinked only once but nodded. "Sure. What is it?" She asked.

"………" Deidara hummed then looked up at her, almost worried. "Can you keep a close eye on Sasori, see if anyone is following him around, yeah? If someone else does know, it'll be more than likely it's him that they're watching. Since it's basically about him, un?"

Slowly, Sakura nodded. She knew he had a point. If someone was trying to divide Sasori and Deidara, it was more than likely it was her red haired colleague that they were after. But she was pretty sure that he could take care of himself. He might have been very quiet and definitely intimidating, but he had to be tough enough to take care of himself. She just couldn't see him weak and defenseless from anyone. "I promise I'll watch over him. But I'm pretty sure he can take care of it himself." She told her patient.

Looking really grateful, Deidara grabbed a chunk of his clay and quickly worked with it, twisting and molding it into something. A moment later, he held it up and revealed a clay rose, holding it out to her. "Thank you, Doctor Haruno, un. I know Sasori can take care of himself, but I can't help but worry. I really do love the guy, yeah?" He said, giving her a lopsided grin.

Sakura just smiled as she took the clay rose from him, thankfully. She really did feel her heart go out to this guy. He could be a little loud and obnoxious, like a certain other blonde haired friend of hers, but he seemed to have a good heart in him. "Thank you, Deidara." She told him gently.

After that, she went on to Gaara's room, with a very hesitant Shikamaru in tow. He looked a little nervous about going with her to that room and she knew why. It was more than likely he was uneasy about something happening in Gaara's room, something that he had to guard the door to keep them from getting caught doing it. It made her smirk to think that she was actually making Shikamaru uneasy. In truth, she saw it as payback for him being a lazy ass to her back in high school.

Sakura entered the room, leaving Shikamaru to guard the door and to try and block off the window to keep any passing nurses or doctors from looking in. It wasn't really too helpful because there was really no one in the same hall as them. So she wasn't too worried.

Entering the room, she suddenly found herself face to face to her gorgeous patient, who was smirking very devilishly at her before he wrapped his arms around her waist and pushed her against the wall, where he began to assault her with ravenous kisses. It made her heart pound and her head a little dizzy as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him right back, almost just as hungry as he was for his touch. She moaned in pleasure as he tickled the inside of her mouth and began running a hand under the hem of her shirt, touching her bare skin. She even moaned when he ran his hand up until he was cupping one of her breasts and giving a light squeeze. She definitely felt a hard pressure at her hip and she smiled against his.

Gaara's arms returned to wrapping around her before he lift her up, turning and sitting her on his desk. He began to attack her neck with his fiery kisses with a low growl within his throat while doing it and her breathing a little hard, but keeping as quiet as she could. "Sakura." He growled out her name.

Sakura's head dipped backwards and she felt like she was drunk in ecstasy as she felt so much pleasure of his kisses trailing across her neck and even lower to her collar bone, nipping at it. Her heart was definitely pounding a little harder as she felt herself growing a little wet down south.

"Gaara……" She said breathlessly before she began running her hand through his wild hair. She felt him grinning against her collarbone and it made her wonder exactly what he had in mind.

Pulling away, and causing her to shoot him a pouty look, Gaara gave her his sly smirk before he pushed her to lay down across the desk. "I've been missing your touch since last night, my beautiful doctor." He then lowered himself to near her thigh, running his hands along her legs, and making her look almost dreamily surprised at him. "You were really naughty last night. I only thought I should return the favor." He told her before he slowly pushed her skirt up to around her waist then lowered his hands to her black laced underwear, hooking his fingers onto the fabric.

Sakura could only lay against his desk, watching in drunk surprise before she realized exactly what he was about to do. She felt her breath catch as she felt him slip her underwear right off of her and drop it. "Gaara……" She moaned softly.

"Try not to be too loud, doctor." Gaara said grinning at her before his head dipped down and his mouth began to kiss her nether places. He used two fingers to grab her folds and pry them apart so he could slip his tongue inside her. He began thrusting his tongue inside and out repeatedly.

It took Sakura everything not to groan very loudly. She threw her head back against the desk and moaned as quietly as she could as she felt him enter her, kissing her secrets and just pleasuring her much like she had to him just ten hours ago. She felt her hands meet his head and she entangled her fingers in his red locks. She could already feel herself coming as Gaara continued to reach deeper inside of her with his tongue, running it along the insides of her thigh. Her hips buckled against his mouth and she felt herself rocking a little against him. She almost groaned loudly as his tongue touched the most sensitive area inside of her. He seemed to have sensed it because his closed his mouth around her gem, sucking on it and causing her body to really heat up and start to sweat.

"Gaara." Sakura moaned drunkenly as her hips buckled violently. Then she came into his mouth. She could feel him drinking her, lapping up her juices and all she did was flush as she continued pant softly.

After a minute, Gaara finally pulled away and rose up to prop himself above her, looking at how gorgeous she looked flushed. He admired her beauty for a moment before he lowered himself and met her lips with his own. They shared another breathtaking kiss with one another, her hands exploring his hair again while his own captured her hips, pressing himself against her.

For a long moment, they fought passionately for dominance before he pulled away, almost as breathlessly as she was. He gave her his devilish smile while making her drunk again by staring into his sea-foam eyes. "Now wasn't that fun, my cherry blossom?" He asked quietly.

Smirking right back at him, Sakura wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him tightly against her and feeling the rock hard pressure against her womanhood. She used him to pull herself up to a sitting position while keeping her arms wrapped around his neck. "You really are a dark angel, Gaara." She said to him as she rubbed her thumb against the back of his neck, causing tingles to run along his skin.

"Heh. Me? A Dark Angel? Please, Sakura. You're not the innocent angel yourself." Gaara remarked as he grinned at her.

Sakura couldn't help but smile and shake her head. She didn't really agree with him there but it was no use to argue with him. He would put up the fight. So she just shrugged before she began to explain exactly what had happened that morning. She explained to him about how her day started by making her visits with everyone, leaving out the details about what she and Deidara had discussed. She did explain to him about how she was now looking for who had done what they did to Tobi and somewhat told him what Deidara told her, only made it sound like it had been Pein who told her everything.

During the entire time, Gaara frowned at her, looking almost serious about how she was trying to find the 'Devil' and the so called room, The Devil's Whisper. He had heard about that room but never actually seen it, himself. He listened to her in silence as she explained what again happened with Obito Uchiha and he really didn't like to hear about how she was said to be the next target of the Devil. He didn't even interrupt when Sakura also explained about Hanataro Haruno. He was surprised and his face darkened a little to even hear that her father had actually came looking for her.

"To be honest, I don't know what to believe about Hanataro being here." Sakura admitted with a light sigh as she sat on Gaara's desk and him leaning against the wall beside her. "He seems to really want to rekindle our relationship but I'm still really scared of him. He knows I can't ever forget what he's done to me and will never forgive him for it." She turned her head and looked at Gaara. "But what about Itachi? If what Hanataro said was true, he killed his own father for no reason."

"……" Gaara didn't answer for a minute but stare thoughtfully across the room. "He'll be fine. He was trying to protect his brother from a threat, even if it backfired in his face. He might have misunderstood who actually did attack that low life," He paused when Sakura moaned his name but he shook his head. "But he was doing it for the good of his brother. If Hanataro does confess what he learned from Jirobo, it could cause some trouble for Itachi but with a good lawyer, he could get out of going to prison for killing his father. Ask Temari for help on that one. Our family has some good lawyers. It was their help that caused me to come to the Asylum instead of prison when I killed Yondaime." He told her.

Smiling brightly, Sakura hopped off the desk and threw her arms around Gaara, hugging him tightly. "Thank you, Gaara. I can't let anything happen to Itachi. He's been like my brother since I even first met the Uchiha family." She then pulled away, giving him a smile, which he faintly returned.

"Still, I don't like the idea of you chasing after the Devil either." Gaara then said, bursting the bubble a little.

Rolling her eyes, Sakura pulled away and leaned against the desk, folding her arms across her chest. She knew that he was just being concerned but she really saw no point. "Gaara, I'll be fine. No one is going to hurt me." She smiled, still a little touched for his concern for her. "But I have to do this. I have to stop this guy from hurting anyone else. If what Kakashi thinks is true, then the Devil is a doctor. He can hurt anyone. What if he hurts you next? It'll kill me if something happens to you." She told him as she moved close to him again and pressed her forehead against his.

For a moment, Gaara didn't say anything but then he turned his head against hers and looked into her emerald gaze, smirking his devilish smirk again. "The Devil comes near me, he better be fully aware that I will kill him for threatening you." He told her before shaking his head. "Just be careful."

Sakura smiled at him before she lightly kissed him then pulled away. "I will. I promise." She told him. And all he could do was nod in return.

After a few minutes of just holding onto one another, Sakura knew she had to get back to work. Not to mention she needed to begin her search for the so called Devil's Whisper chamber. She wondered if it actually existed and if that was where all the murders were actually being done. She knew the only way to know was to find it. She just hoped she would find it in time before the 'Devil' decided to strike her next.


	17. Chapter 17

Title: The Devil's Whisper

Short Summary:  
Sakura is a Psychiatrist for a mental hospital for the Konoha Hospital who then gets moved to her dream job in the Suna Hospital for the Criminally Insane to take care of a very dangerous patient named Gaara. WARNING! Sasuke bashing!!

Pairings:  
Sakura/Sasuke (minor), Sakura/Gaara

Warning: Story contains implied and/ or scenes of: major language, torture, rape, angst, adult scenes, violence and probably more…

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of its characters. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

**Chapter XVII**

Sakura soon found out that she wasn't particularly fond of the decision of leaving Danzo's bodyguard, Sai, behind to watch over things in the Suna Asylum. She hadn't thought about how much trouble he could cause for just being a very quiet and emotionless guy. But in truth, she found only a day after he started wandering the halls of the Asylum, watching her and her patients carefully that he was actually obnoxious. She had tried to talk to him once or twice, but he never really did say anything back to her. He was oddly very quiet and didn't say much. She also found it very hard to go 'visit' with Gaara. He was always around, watching her and making her feel uneasy. So she didn't get to share some alone time with her favorite patient.

But after teasing him a little with Temari, he opened his mouth and said that he didn't talk to someone so annoying and unattractive. Actually, he simply called her ugly and irritating, it was close enough.

It took a lot of effort for Sakura not to punch the pale man's lights out. She had never been so angry with anyone, other than 'The Devil' and even Sasuke. She did her best to avoid him now that she found out that he liked to give people very insulting names. He had made the mistake of calling Kankuro a pimped out punk who only wished that he was tough.

Kankuro almost lunged at Sai to throttle him and maybe even do worst. Baki and Madara both had to catch him and remind him that Sai was Danzo's henchman. If anything happened to Sai, it would be the worst thing to ever happen to the Suna Asylum. Danzo would not hesitate to close it down and send many of the patients off to a prison instead. And that included Gaara. So for the sake of his younger brother, Kankuro kept his head. He only took his anger out in the Asylum rec room, running a treadmill as fast as he could, something that Temari admitted to Sakura that he did to blow some steam. He seemed to like running or punching stuff to deal with his anger.

It was even hard enough for Sakura to work with some of her patients with Sai around. Especially with Deidara. Whenever the pale man showed up, Deidara was very quiet and always a little skittish. He constantly looked at Sai, as if he was afraid of him. But Sakura knew exactly what was bothering him.

According to Chiyo, Danzo only hired the best of the best bodyguards. She knew Sai a little because she knew Danzo and according to her, Sai was one of the most observant men there was in the guard field. Other than sociality with others, hardly anything escaped his attention. So she knew that Deidara was just being quiet and constantly watching the pale bodyguard because he did not want to let up his secret to the guy. Other than that, no one really knew his story. No one knew his background other than he was a brilliant bodyguard, his history. Hell, no one even knew his last name. They only knew him as Sai.

Sakura had been in her office looking at papers for the history of the Asylum. She had already talked to Chiyo about some of the things she had been learning and had asked to see a historical document on the Suna Asylum. She didn't actually let Chiyo on about what Deidara had said about a secret room. She just acted like she was interested in it's history.

And that wasn't exactly a lie.

Sakura didn't learn very much though. She learned that the building that the Asylum was now had been built nearly a hundred years ago, though the foundation and the bottom floor of the entire area still belonged to part of the fortress that stood there more than a hundred years ago. The fortress, as Deidara had told her before, had belonged to a villainous sheik who had ruled the deserts of Sunagakure for years. He had raided other countries and their villages, killed hundreds, maybe even thousands of people as he plundered their riches. He had been nothing more than a desert pirate.

As the history went, the sheik's true evil began when he raided in the Yugakure Country, which was a place where most hot springs could be found. It was there he discovered sacrificial rituals being performed, worshiping the devil, himself. Fascinated in the rituals, the sheik took it upon himself to do the say. He returned to his fortress and built a new chamber in the deepest reaches.

It was to be called The Devil's Whisper. The chamber itself was not known by anyone but the sheik. He never allowed anyone to go looking for it, always capturing victims and dragging them to the chamber where screams would echo through the entire fortress all night long as the sheik performed his satanic rituals, worshipping the God of Death and Destruction. Only one of his subjects had ever gone looking for the chamber and he never actually seen again. Rumors had it that the sheik had caught him and decided to sacrifice him as punishment for defying his orders of leaving the chamber alone.

After that, the sheik became obsessed with sacrificing people. Even his own subjects he would sacrifice to the Death and Destruction God. The fortress soon became a place of terror and everyone knew about their master's obsession. And it didn't help that the sheik began threatening everyone that if they didn't obey his orders or displeased him, they would be next. Every one of the subjects were riddled with fear and did everything they could to listen to his every orders. Many of them were murdered by the sheik because he always found a reason to sacrifice someone. He even began sacrificing his own many wives and even some of his own children. The fortress had become a place of the greatest fear and death.

The upside to entire deal, at least to the subjects, was the fact that the sheik was way too obsessed with his sacrificial rituals that he had completely forgotten that he had many enemies. He had been concentrating his entire being into pleasing the Destructive Death God that he hadn't been watching his back like he should have been.

Enemies of the Sheik had noticed the lack of raids from the Sheik and had heard about his new obsession that they took the opportunity to strike. They attacked the Fortress while he had been sacrificing another hopeless victim, killing many of his guards. His servants, however, happily surrendered their selves to the armies and begged them to stop their master. It had bewildered the many raiders but they spared the servants and killed everyone else. As for the sheik himself, the leader of the raiders in The Devil's Whisper killed him. He, alone, knew the whereabouts of the terrible chamber but he never told anyone. He had taken the secret of it to his grave, only telling people that it did exist. He just didn't tell them where.

The fortress was destroyed many years after that, during a terrible earthquake that shook the deserts of the Wind Country. Anyone who knew about the legend of The Devil's Whisper believed the chamber to have been destroyed.

Years after that, the land was bought by the early ancestors of the Sabaku Family who cleared most of the debris of the former fortress and rebuilt over it. They used as a place of living at first, building a glamorous mansion before it was burned down by accident. No one really knew what happened. The Sabaku family rebuilt the mansion again, but continued to build on it, turning it into a massive inn so that travelers had somewhere to stay. It didn't last too long because fear began to develop in the walls of the Sabaku Inn. There were stories about how someone was whispering through the darkness at night, frightening people away. Many guests had claimed they heard a demonic whisper through the halls and they all began to believe that the Sabaku Inn was haunted.

Soon enough, only six years after it had been even built, the Sabaku Inn was closed down and refurbished to becoming a hospital. It last for a decent while before the head of the Sabaku family grew very interested in turning it into a Mental Asylum. A lot of people believed it was because he started going a little crazy, himself. He had claimed that he heard whispers in the halls while working at night. He had heard them time over time and that was what caused him to lose his mind a little. Thus, the Suna Asylum came to be.

There were no reports of the actual finding of The Devil's Whisper, only rumors. Many people had searched the entire Asylum for the so-called chamber but found nothing. So it was just a forgotten tale, never to be even told again. It was only to be in the record books but never to be bothered again.

Until now; until Sakura Haruno began looking for the chamber called The Devil's Whisper. She was pretty frantic about finding the stupid thing but couldn't find anything that would give her the location of where the rumored room might be. The only place she could think it might be is one of the Isolation rooms. Maybe even the morgue.

So that's why she found herself taking the elevator down to the bottom floor of the Asylum with Temari in toll. She had admitted to the blonde of what she found out, and only her. Temari had rolled her eyes at first until she read the documents about Sakura's findings and then she became intrigued. She found herself just as interested as Sakura and wanted to see if the so-called Devil's Whisper chamber actually existed. And because Temari was going, Shikamaru was dragged with them.

"Okay, someone want to explain to me why we're down here again?" The lazy security guard grumbled as he followed the ladies in the cold corridors. He glanced around, somewhat uneasily because the Isolation rooms were actually fuller than usual.

After what Tobi had said only days before, all of the silver haired patients had been gathered up and locked into their rooms, not to leave them at all. Some of those patients put up fights and ended up on the Isolation section. And that included Hidan. He hadn't been particularly happy that he was not to leave his room for a while just because, and he quoted "That fucking bitch doctor said so."

Most of the silver haired doctors and nurses were also released from their positions, sent home and not to return to work until they could find a way to stop the murders. A lot of them were a little disgruntled but they didn't argue. They knew why they were being suspected of being the 'Devil'. Some, however, put up a fight and argued about how it was not fair that they were being suspected. Chiyo, herself, shut them really fast by threatening to fire them instead. She simply stated that she was not going to allow the murders to go on any longer.

However, the downside to the entire deal was, Kabuto agreed almost too willingly to leave the hospital. He seemed to be taking the entire situation too well and was too content for Sakura's liking. She had thought that he might be very angry. But it didn't seem like he was. He had left the hospital with a smile on his face. But before he actually had left, he turned to Sakura and gave her a very coy smile that she didn't like at all. It was like looking into the eyes of a rat who was hiding something. "Take care of yourself, Doctor Haruno. Don't let the Devil get you." He had told her before he turned and left. Sakura was left wondering if he actually knew who the devil was. She wanted to go after him and demand him to tell her. But he was gone by the time she got out to the parking lot.

"Argh!!" Temari groaned loudly as she shot Shikamaru a dark look. We told you all ready at least five times, lazy ass! We're looking for a hidden room that might be the so-called Devil's lair! Sakura believes that is where the murders are being taken place!!"

Sakura felt just as irritated with Shikamaru's question as Temari. She had already explained it all to him several times and she knew that he had a very good memory. He could remember a lot more stuff than she could. She knew he was only asking to irritate Temari. She had seen the smug grin his face when the blonde turned her back onto him again. She knew fully well why he was doing it. It was pay back to Temari for leaving long scratches along his back after having sex with her. Temari had admitted it to her quietly after they watched another guard pat Shikamaru on the back, causing him to hiss and arch his back in pain. He claimed to everyone it was a bad back he had after falling down the stairs of his apartment. But Sakura knew the truth and smirked about it. She knew it was his fault for getting into a relationship with the ever so violent but beautiful, Temari Sabaku. From day one, the pink haired doctor had known that her new best friend was the hard-core, violent type.

Rolling her eyes but smiling, Sakura continued to walk through the corridors of the Isolation section. She was looking around very carefully, studying the walls for any hidden latches or handles. She searched the medical rooms, watching for anything suspicious. So far, they had searched the entire section, other than the Isolation rooms their selves. That wasn't an option seeing that most of them were occupied.

There was only one other room that hadn't been searched and that was the morgue, itself. Sakura was feeling very uneasy about going in there. It was a place of death and as it was, she didn't do so well with dead bodies. Not since having one flying out at her from a closet several weeks ago.

Temari and Shikamaru weren't as thrilled as she was on going in there but they were doing a lot better than she was. The three of them cautiously entered the room, though, fearing that Orochimaru was down there. They really did not want to explain to him what they were doing. They all knew very well that he was still angry at Sakura for accusing him the other night.

The room, itself was just as creepy as the Mortician, himself. It was a large room with large steel tanks where they kept the dead. Each one of the doors on the tanks were numbered to about fifty. The walls were dark gray, and there were no windows but just vents where cool air blew through. It was awfully cold down in the Morgue. Off to the side, there was a large cupboard of some sort. It was made of stainless steel much like many of the other things in the room. It was slightly open but Sakura couldn't see what was inside of it. It was so big though. It could have been where Orochimaru got most of his tools to work with the dead. There was an operation table in the middle of the room, which was probably where Orochimaru did his thing with the dead bodies. What made it a little more unsettling that it was stained with water spots, or maybe even worst. Bodily fluids. Most of everything in the room was kept well clean though with only a few stains in the metal here and there. So Orochimaru did keep his working place in order. He actually seemed to be a clean freak. While Sakura had been expecting a complete mess of gory objects lying here and there, it was actually more like the rest of the Asylum's medical facilities. Well kept clean and tidy. Maybe even cleaner than any of the other rooms.

Still, it was very dim in that room, even with Shikamaru turning on the lights so that they could see better. There was just something so dreary about that place. Sakura figured it was just because it was a MORGUE.

Luckily, Orochimaru was nowhere to be seen. Shikamaru eventually called in to Baki and asked where he was and learned that he was out for lunch. That was something new. Sakura didn't know that he went out to lunch. She had always thought he ate down in his office. In fact, she believed that he lived in his office. She wasn't even sure he had anywhere else to go besides the Asylum. But then again, he didn't seem the kind who lacked money. And working at the Asylum sure paid expenses for an apartment or even owning a house. She was pretty sure that Orochimaru, being the Head of dealing with the dead, he could afford owning a house. But she never recalled that he ever left the hospital until now.

"Okay, snake face isn't here. Let's make this quick before he comes back. Not to mention, this place gives me the creeps." Temari said, rubbing her arms.

Sakura and Shikamaru both nodded before they went off in different directions to search the room. They began looking all around the room, examining the walls and even opening some of the cupboards, yet carefully. They didn't want to find something that they didn't want to. The pink haired doctor herself went over to the large cupboard, staring up at it with uneasy curiosity. She wasn't entire sure if she wanted to look in it but she was curious. It was a good deal bigger than her and almost reached the high ceiling which was a good deal ten feet from the floor. The cupboard itself was nearly eight feet tall and eight feet wide. So it was really big, obviously.

Taking a deep breath, she carefully reached forward and pulled one of the doors open, carefully peering around the door. She was taken back by surprise to see a large glass tank within it. It was about six feet tall, and nearly seven feet wide. Inside of it was dark, murky liquid. It was almost brownish-black and very hard to see through. It was probably because the cupboard was pretty dark itself.

Glancing to the side at the other door, Sakura reached over and lightly pushed the other door open. She looked back at the tank but it was still hard to see into the tank.

Then she noticed a light switch off to the side. Biting her lip, she reached over and flipped it. A light turned on from behind the table, illuminating it only a little but the liquid was still so dark that she couldn't see very well. There were dark masses inside the liquid though. It was then she noticed the stepladder folded neatly to the side of the tank. Frowning, Sakura stepped back and studied the tank again before realizing that the top of the cupboard could be lifted right off of the tank and that there was a light right above it.

Sakura knew that she probably shouldn't do it but she did. She reached in and pulled the stepladder out, unfolding it. Once out, she stepped up to the top step and grabbed the top of the cupboard. Lightly pushing up on it, she let out a squeak when the top actually rolled back and behind the cupboard.

"Wow. Interesting. A roll away top cupboard. Never seen those before." Sakura said to herself before she looked down at the roof of the tank. There was also a roll away door on the top of it.

With a shrug, she reached for the door and pushed it open. It took some effort though. It was a little heavy so it took quite a bit of strength. Once it gave out and let her roll it, a terrible smell hit Sakura, causing her to gag and quickly cover her mouth and nose. She felt like she was going to be sick by the very smell. It smelled like very thick alcohol mixed with something else. It was a smell that Sakura wasn't used to but she could identify it.

Decaying death, if it was even allowed to put those words together.

Sakura then realized exactly what this tank was. She realized that she had found what was called a Death Tank. She had never seen them before but had read about them in medical books.

"Oh, my god! What the fuck is that smell?" Temari suddenly exclaimed after she had been hit by the smell that Sakura had let out.

Both Shikamaru and Temari came back into view from opposite sides of the room, both holding their noses and looking highly disgusted. In fact, they looked very green as if they were going to be sick like Sakura, who was immediately yanking the lid back over the top and then pulling the cupboard top back over in its rightful place. Once she was done doing that, she dropped down from the stepladder. She gagged again as if she was about to hurl but managed not to. She gave the Death tank a look of disgust as she quickly put the stepladder back against the tank.

Shikamaru swallowed hard, as if trying to swallow back vomit yet still held his nose between his fingers. "Aw, god. What is that thing?" He asked, looking disgusted.

Sakura let out a sigh before motioning to the other two that they could un-pinch their noses again. The smell had lightened up only a little. "That's a Death Tank. I should have realized what it was when I saw it. Sorry. I got a little snoopy." She shook her head when both of her two companions rose their eyebrows at her. "A Death tank is where they preserve and deep clean dead bodies for examinations. They're mostly used at medic schools where students can learn about human bodies and such. But now and then other hospitals have one. What doctors do with them is they place a dead body in the tank, which is filled with 100% Isopropyl Alcohol, which is basically very strong rubbing alcohol. They use the alcohol to clean the entire body system, clearing any diseases that it might be carrying so that doctors can work with them without any problems. Looks like it's being used because there's a body in there. And I so not reaching in there to find out what patient it is." She told them.

Temari and Shikamaru both had to admit it but they weren't going to look either. They were disgusted as it was. "Did any of us actually find anything?" The blonde asked as she watched Sakura close the cupboard.

Shikamaru shrugged as he threw his thumb over his shoulder towards the office part of the lab. "Nothing really. Just something extremely disturbing in Orochimaru's office." He admitted.

"What?!" Both Temari and Sakura asked, their attention perking up. "What, Shikamaru? What is it?!" They both asked before they were already hurrying away from him and heading into Orochimaru's office.

It was a decent sized office. A large desk. A computer on the large desk. Several papers on the desk. Nothing really too out of ordinary. So both women frowned and rose their eyebrows at the lazy security guard. They were not impressed at all. But with a shrug, Shikamaru made them step further into the room before grabbing the room and pulling the door half way closed so they could see behind it. There was a shade pulled down the metallic door, as if hiding something behind it. The guard grabbed the bottom of the shade and pulled it up to reveal what was beneath it.

Both women's eyes snapped wide open with shock.

On the back of the complete metallic, no window door was a poster. A very inappropriate poster. A very inappropriate poster that surely did not belong in an office. A very inappropriate poster that surely did not belong in an office with two men. A very inappropriate poster that surely did not belong an office with two men who were both very naked, one shoved against a wall with a hand grip while the other was on one knee in front of him and giving him a blow job while his own erection was sticking out in plain sight.

Sakura and Temari gaped with shock and alarm, staring at the two men on the sexual poster. In truth, both men on the poster were pretty gorgeous. But it then hit them of what this poster was. A gay poster. A sexual gay poster in Orochimaru's office, which he no doubt knew that was there and had put it there.

"EWWWW!!!" Temari cried out now shaking her head violently and waving her hands in the air before hurrying over to Shikamaru and yanking the shade back over the poster so that they didn't have to look at it. "Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew!!!!!! Oh my fucking eyes! My fucking brain! Bad images! That is so fucking gross!!! I can't believe Orochimaru has that fucking poster hidden on his fucking door! Orochimaru!! Of all people! Fucking Orochimaru! Mr. Incredibly-Creepy who seems way too fucking serious for that shit! He's a fucking pervert!"

"He's gay." Sakura said, in shock.

It dawned on her of why he would have that poster. She knew that Orochimaru must have been homosexual. That was why she never saw him going out with women or even talking to women. It made her face cross into a look of disgust. If he had that kind of poster in his office, which was the one place that hardly anyone ever went, he must have masturbated a lot in his office.

"Looks like the fuck buddy rumor is true." Shikamaru groaned as he watched Temari

"Ugh, I am so out of here!" Temari groaned as she shook her head and threw the door open, walking out. Shikamaru glanced over at Sakura, who was still looking very disgusted before he went after Temari. "I think I'm going to be sick!"

Sakura hesitated for a moment before looking around the office. She knew she really shouldn't but she was actually very curious about Orochimaru. She had always wondered what his deal was. The fact that he was gay came as a shock. He never acted like he was. Then again, she didn't know a great deal about him. He was creepy and she never took the opportunity to learn about him. So she did the incredibly dumb thing. She went to his desk and began looking around on it, trying to see if she could get some more clues about his personality. She bit her lip as she looked at the papers, only seeing reports about the bodies he had been working with. That's when she saw the picture.

It was a picture of paper clipped to a report but it didn't take too long to figure out who the man in the picture was. The man she saw was a man in his late twenties with untidy black hair and very dark eyes. He wore a gray uniform much like the rest of the Asylum patients. The name scribed on the paper was Zaku. It was the man whose body fell on her from the closet.

Swallowing hard, Sakura picked up the report and lift the picture. She froze to see another picture, a simple Polaroid photo of the dead body. It was cleaned up and not as bloody as she remembered it when it fell on her. It was cut up really bad though. There were symbols etched in Zaku's chest as well as the chest had been cut wide open. She could see that the heart had been cut out. There was a nasty gash under the chin, into the mouth. So something had stabbed him from the chin up into his head. So that must have been the cause of death. That made Sakura shudder.

What surprised Sakura even more was one of the symbols cut deep in his skin. She couldn't see it too well but she could have sworn that it was a circle surrounding an upside down triangle. It was some kind of……pentagram.

Sakura narrowed her eyes a little before she shook her head. She wanted to find out more about that symbol. There was something about it that made a shiver run up her back. She had to know what it meant. Quickly looking around, she searched for a pen. It was odd enough to see that there were none lying on top of the desk. Usually desks always had a pen on the top. But it didn't seem that Orochimaru had one on the desktop. But he must have had one inside. Sakura grabbed one of the drawers and pulled it open. That one had a bunch of files in it so she knew she wouldn't find a pen in there. She closed it and opened another. There were more papers in that one but it might have a pen.

Carefully, she began lifting the papers up and searching to see if she could find the pen. She however, found something else. As she reached the bottom of the papers, and finding a pen there, she saw something else sitting there. Something that made her freeze with surprise. There was a picture hidden under all of the papers.

A picture of Sasori Akasuna.

In the picture, Sasori seemed to have been caught a little off guard of Orochimaru taking a picture of him. He was mostly just staring blankly at the camera, not looking amused. It was the usual look he always wore. But why in the world would Orochimaru have a picture of Sasori in his……?

"!!!!!!!" Sakura let out a sharp gasp as it hit her. Her eyes snapped up towards the office door then back at Sasori's picture. She felt a wave of disgust but alarm hit her. She couldn't believe it. Was Orochimaru……?! Did he know about Sasori's sexuality?!

"Sakura! Come on! We need to get going before Orochimaru comes back from lunch!" Temari called from the lab.

Sakura's attention immediately snapped back to reality before she quickly shoved the picture back where it belonged. She dropped the rest of the papers back into the drawer before quickly drawing the pentagram on her forearm then threw the pen back into the draw and slapped it shut. She hurried out of Orochimaru's office where she met Temari and Shikamaru, who both still looked a little green about the revelation of Orochimaru's sexuality. Together, the three hurried out of the Morgue and down the hall. Temari complained the entire way about how she would never look at Orochimaru the same way again. She had never liked him but this was the final nail in his like/dislike coffin. Sakura could only wonder what she would say if she knew about a picture of Sasori in Orochimaru's desk.

Later that night, Sakura was going over all of the historical documents again and tried to find any clues of where The Devil's Whisper chamber might be. She was still a little stunned to have learned something about Orochimaru and was still very worried about everything. She had almost forgotten about the pentagram she had drawn out on her arm.

While she continued to read more about the Asylum history when she heard an argument starting outside her office. She frowned as she listened to the muffled voices for a minute before standing up and moving cautiously to the door, peering out around the corner to see who was arguing, only to pull back slightly when she saw that it was Orochimaru and Sasori. They were facing one another, both glaring at one another. It was as if they didn't like each other at all. Sasori, especially. He had a look of hatred on his face as he kept stepping back away from Orochimaru, who advanced forward a little.

"I don't know what you are talking about, Orochimaru! I haven't been anywhere near your fucking office! Why in the hell would I go anywhere near it?!"

Sakura froze, stifling a gasp by breathing through her nose instead. She covered her mouth as she watched them carefully with wide eyes. She knew Orochimaru must have found something out of place in his office. But what?

Orochimaru's strange yellow eyes narrowed a little as he stared right at Sasori's own amber colored eyes. He obviously didn't believe Sasori. "Why do I not believe you, my dear colleague? Someone has been in my Morgue. I know someone has. And I'm suspecting you. What were you looking for, Sasori? The pictures I took of you and your lover?" He asked, spitting out the word, Lover as if it was poison.

Sakura really had to hold her breath to keep herself from gasping. 'Oh, my god! He knows about Sasori and Deidara!' She thought.

Sasori seemed a little surprised too before his eyes narrowed dangerously and he shook his head. "Orochimaru, I haven't been to your fucking office. I already told you to stay the fuck away from me! I don't know who was in your office, but it wasn't me! As for those pictures, I already warned you that if you expose me and Deidara, I will expose your secrets. If you even think about trying to blackmail me, I will let everyone know what I know about you!" He growled in a low voice.

The smirk on Orochimaru's face even scared Sakura a little, making her shudder. He was almost too sinister like as he moved a step closer to Sasori, who moved way too close to the wall, glaring at him. "And I already told you, my dear, that I would never expose you and that she-man." He ignored the deadly look that Sasori shot him. "If I did, you would probably be released from your position, here at the Asylum. I would never blackmail you. You're a little too amusing for me to do that." He said as he reached up and brushed his fingers against Sasori's cheek.

Viciously, Sasori knocked his hand away and side stepped so that he wasn't exactly near the wall again. If his looks at Orochimaru could be anymore deadlier, the Mortician would probably die a thousand deaths. "Do NOT fucking touch me, you bastard!" He hissed before he stepped back. "And I'm warning you. If you ever threaten Deidara again, I will fucking kill you, myself."

With an angry twist, Sasori turned away from Orochimaru, who was smirking at his back.

Luckily for Sakura, she quickly ducked back into her office and lightly closed the door before any one of them could notice that she had been eavesdropping. She knew that Sasori wouldn't be too angry at her but she wasn't so sure about Orochimaru. As far as he knew, she didn't know about Sasori and Deidara. But either way, she knew that she was in a bind. She, Temari and Shikamaru. Somehow, Orochimaru knew that someone had been in his office. He knew that someone had been snooping around the Morgue.

It also became very clear that Orochimaru was the one who had had Hidan threaten Deidara about him and Sasori. She wasn't entirely sure if Deidara knew about Orochimaru but Sasori sure knew it had been the Mortician. It also became very clear that Orochimaru might have had something for Sasori. The picture, the truth about Orochimaru's sexuality. It all pointed to a secret fact that Orochimaru may be attracted to the red haired Doctor.

Tired, Sakura didn't want to think anymore. She saw that it was getting late in the evening. She had already talked to Gaara and had shared her good night kiss with him before doing a little late night work. She wanted to see him again before she left but as he knew about it, she was already gone. So she would just go on home now and see him tomorrow.

Gathering up her things, Sakura headed out for the parking lot. She would give Chiyo's documents on the Asylum when she returned to work the next day. But, in a way, she didn't have to.

As Sakura made her way out to her car, she suddenly felt eyes on her. She faltered in her step before shakily turning to see who was staring. She was surprised to find Chiyo leaning against rather nice gray BMW. She appeared to have been waiting for someone. And judging by the fact that she was now motioning Sakura over, it had been her.

"Hey, Ms. Chiyo. I thought you might have left already." Sakura said smiling.

Chiyo shared an ancient smile with her before stuffing her hands into the jacket's pockets that she wore. She was quiet for a minute as she looked up at the night sky, watching the stars. "I actually wanted to have a word with you before you went home, Sakura." She said quietly.

Sakura blinked in surprise before joining her to leaning against the car, seeing that her boss was. It didn't seem to bother Chiyo the least bit at all. "Oh? What is it?" She asked just as quietly as the old woman.

There was a silent between both women as they stared up at the stars. It was a very nice night, Sakura decided. There were no clouds at all. Only a starlit night. It pleased her greatly to have watched a shooting star shoot across the sky and she smiled as she made her silent wish; which was for her to be with Gaara for a long time. She knew she was falling in love with him. It was a dangerous obstacle but it couldn't be helped.

"I want you to reconsider on leaving the Asylum." Chiyo suddenly said.

A sharp gasp escaped Sakura and she looked wide-eyed at the old woman. She was stunned by her words, and quite hurt. She didn't know why Chiyo would say that. Why?! Why did she want her to leave?! "Ms. Chiyo, I……" She was saying, not being able to hide the fact that she was upset. "I thought I was doing a good job……."

Chiyo looked at her, almost quickly but nodded as she held up a hand. "You are doing a good job, Sakura. You're doing an excellent job. It's just, I'm very worried about you. Madara is very worried about you. A completely insane murderer, Sakura, is threatening you. We do not want you to get hurt. I like you so much right now. You are seriously becoming someone very close to me, a daughter, maybe. Or a granddaughter. It will shatter my heart if you are killed because of the murdering nut case who is haunting this hospital." She drew in a heavy sigh before letting it out again. "It scares me to think that you are next on the 'Devil's' list."

Somewhat touched by her concern, Sakura still frowned as she shook her head. "Ms. Chiyo, I am not afraid. I know I should be, but I'm not. Please…..don't send me away. I have to be here to protect my patients." She told her.

Chiyo gave her an ancient smile but shook her head. "You're smitten by my nephew, aren't you?" She asked.

Sakura started, looking at her in surprise. She wasn't entirely sure what she meant. But she had a feeling that the old woman might have known about her and Gaara. "Um……" She wondered uneasily.

"It's all right, Sakura. I don't blame you for having some feelings for my nephew, Gaara. I know he's quite taken to you too. I've seen the way he looks at you. He's a good-looking lad, I must say. He looks quite like his uncle, Sasori's father, which is why both of them look so much alike. That's probably why Yondaime despised him so much." Chiyo said thoughtfully.

Sakura only blinked in surprise.

But Chiyo didn't seem to notice. She just turned her ancient gaze upward, looking up at the star lights in the sky. She looked almost peaceful that way. It was like she didn't have a worry in the world at all at this time of the day. "I miss my son and my nephew very much. Yondaime and Akito. I only wished that Akito and his lovely wife, Kisa could have had more children. I love my Sasori very much but sometimes he's just so hard to read."

A question popped up in Sakura's head, one that she had been wondering for a long time that dealt with Sasori. "How……how did they die? Sasori's parents?" She blushed when Chiyo looked at her. "I mean! If you don't mind……I didn't mean to pry……" She slouched. "Never mind.

Chiyo chuckled but shook her head. "It's all right to ask, Sakura." Her face softened into a look of sadness but she kept her ancient smile on her face. "Sometimes I wonder if our family are cursed. For many years, at least one or two of our family has been murdered or committed suicide." She held up a hand when Sakura looked horrified. "Sasori's parents, like Yondaime was murdered, Sakura. He was very young when they were killed, only eleven years old, going on twelve. It was their murder that caused him to go so quiet and so serious. It nearly killed his heart when they died. He might not show it, but he's highly sympathetic for Temari, Kankuro and Gaara. His father was murdered as theirs were. He believed that it was Gaara at first. We all did. But then he started to believe that he was innocent. There had been many times that Sasori fought with the Justice department about Gaara. He truly did not believe that Gaara was a killer. He had a great hate for Yashamaru for what he tried to do to Gaara. We all knew that what Gaara did to him was self defense."

"But why didn't anyone defend him at the time, then?" Sakura asked, frowning.

Chiyo met her emerald green eyes while shaking her head. "Simple answer. Yondaime. Youndaime's father, my twin brother's son in law was the direct descendant of the first Sabaku who was one of the first to have come to the Wind Country, along with my descendents. . They are a rich and very successful family, even if there has been some bad blood within their family. He married my niece and gave birth to Yondaime's father, who eventually took over the Sabaku fortune. Then when he sired Yondaime, it was my nephew's turn to run the company businesses and the fortunes. Most of the Sabaku family owns the entire Suna City. Without our ties to them, the Akasuna would not have flourished like them. We own many companies because of the Sabaku family." She shook her head again. "Yondaime did not want anyone to say anything about what happened with Gaara. He was a powerful man, Sakura. Powerful, but like all highly wealthy men, he wanted more power. He controlled the family finances and could have easily cut off the Akasuna fortunes if he desired. My family worried about our own finances. It is not an easy world out there without money. Surely you know that. So to keep our finances all set, we kept our silence."

Shaking her head, Sakura felt some displeasure for Chiyo's cowardice for not standing up for Gaara when she had the chance. "That is so not right." She murmured.

"In a world like ours, Sakura, nothing is right." Chiyo told her gently as she reached over and patted her hand in an almost sympathetic way. She let out a light sigh. "I cared for Yondaime a little too much when I should have scolded him for his foolish behavior of his own son. And it did hurt my heart to hear that he had been murdered. But as I learn a great deal of truth, I've learned that I have been a fool, myself. I am glad that the expenses of the Sabaku fortune is in the hands of Temari. She is far more responsible than Kankuro, who in truth should be in charge because he is the oldest male of the three Sabaku children. He is the Heir of the Fortune as Yondaime has written it in his will. But he and Temari knows that he has terrible spending habits so he put Temari in charge. He sometimes regrets that he did that, but knows that if he was in charge of the finances, he would blow every cent and destroy the honor of Sabaku. He is smart that way. He only acts like an idiot now and then." She said laughing softly.

Sakura laughed with her as she folded her arms. She went quiet for a moment, her thoughts immediately running to what she had learned about Orochimaru. She wondered what Chiyo knew about him. "Ms. Chiyo……" She hesitated but saw that the old woman's attention was on her. "………I was wondering……." She paused again. "I heard a certain rumor about Orochimaru……having something……"

"You're trying to refer to the fact that Orochimaru is obsessed with Sasori, aren't you?" Chiyo asked quietly.

Surprised, Sakura looked at her with wide eyes. She wasn't really trying to put it like that but it was close enough.

Chiyo only nodded as she let out a heavy sigh and folded her wrinkled hands together. "Not many knows of Orochimaru's secret but I am one of those few. Even he doesn't know that I know." She shook her head as her face darkened a little. "Orochimaru met Sasori years ago, when my grandson was a student at the Suna Academy of Health and Medicine. He's a good deal older than Sasori, at least twenty years older but very wise in the field of medicine. He was a guest professor at the academy and had taught Sasori's medical classes for a few months." Her face grew darker. "From the moment Orochimaru even seen Sasori in his classes, he became fascinated by him. Sasori became very uneasy with him always staring at him but pleased that Orochimaru had taken a liking to him. He thought that the all famous Dr. Orochimaru was just interested in his knowledge of health."

"But……that wasn't it, was it?" Sakura asked.

Chiyo nodded as she looked down, almost sadly. "No. That wasn't it at all. I believe that Orochimaru thought he was fascinated by Sasori's intelligence as well and did a lot of bragging about him. He is somewhat to be thanked that Sasori even became such a wonderful doctor. He is highly respected by most professionals. But then……Orochimaru's fascination grew into something more. He began to obsess over Sasori. He always made Sasori stay after classes to work on projects, help him with his own projects. My grandson believed that Orochimaru was just offering extra credit to him. So he always agreed. However, he learned very quickly about Orochimaru's obsession over him when he was nearly sexually attacked by Orochimaru." She told Sakura.

Gasping sharply, Sakura covered her mouth and looked wide eyed at her. "Oh my god. Orochimaru……but if he……why …..what happened?! Did he…?" She continued to ask quickly.

The old woman held up a hand to silence her. "I didn't not learn about this for many years. Sasori never told anyone, probably out of humiliation. And no, Orochimaru did not exactly go too far into attacking my grandson. It was simply too much touching and prodding. Sasori threatened Orochimaru to expose him if he came near him again. But in truth, he wouldn't because he was too humiliated to tell anyone. Humiliated and angry. Orochimaru stopped teaching the classes at that time and Sasori continued on with his life, yet kept that secret for a very long time." She told the young Psychiatrist.

"But how did you find out about it?" Sakura asked, still very stunned of what she just learned. "And who else knows?"

"No one but myself knows about Sasori and Orochimaru's horrible past together, Sakura. Sasori prefers that no one knew about what happened to him. He's easily insulted and he has too much pride." Chiyo explained with a shake of her head for the tenth time. "I learned about it only three years ago when Sasori started working at the Asylum. Orochimaru was here before he even started working here. So imagine his shock when he found out about it. Orochimaru became very delighted to see Sasori again and tried time after time to get him to work with him one certain projects. But Sasori has so much hate for him and he refused many times. He even started threatening him to let everyone know what Orochimaru had done to him." She sighed again. "However, even as Sasori told me about the attack, we both knew that there was no proof against Orochimaru. He as too much great reputation and even has a connection with Danzo Root. It is not my idea to allow him to work here any longer. But I'm afraid I don't have much saying in the matter. It is Danzo's orders that allows Orochimaru work here as the Mortician. If I had my way, he would have been sacked a long time ago and placed in prison for what he put my grandson through."

Sakura lowered her head and folded her hands together. She remembered what she had heard between Orochimaru and Sasori only twenty minutes ago. "Chiyo……I heard Orochimaru talking to Sasori almost twenty five, thirty minutes ago." She looked at the semi surprised look on the old woman's face, while she looked very serious. "Orochimaru was harassing Sasori a little about him going into his office. He thought that Sasori had gone into his office to….well, he thought Sasori was snooping through his stuff. And Sasori was so angry at him for talking to him."

"I'm not surprised. Sasori hates Orochimaru, as well as I do." Chiyo remarked, though she did sound a little concerned.

"It……it wasn't Sasori who was in Orochimaru's office." Sakura told her in a timid voice. She knew she was treading dangerous waters by telling Chiyo the truth. She made up the decision to keep Temari and Shikamaru out of trouble. "It was me. I was looking for some information and I……I guess Orochimaru could tell that I had been in his office, only he thought it was Sasori."

"What were you looking for, Sakura?" Chiyo asked, frowning but, thankfully, not sounding angry at all.

Sakura shook her head as she let out a long sigh. "I don't know. Information that might help me figure out who the Devil killer is. I guess I was looking for some of the reports on some of the murdered patients. I found something." She pushed up her sleeve of her jacket. "This marking was actually on the body of Zaku, the latest Devil victim." She paused, wincing. "Well, the victim before Tobi. It was on the body." She told her, showing Chiyo the pentagram.

A sharp hiss escaped from Chiyo's lips as she turned completely towards Sakura and grabbed her arm to pull it closer to her. She bent low over Sakura's arm, staring at the circle and the triangle with alarm. "Oh……dear." She murmured.

"What? Do you know what it is?" Sakura asked quickly.

The old woman nodded as she released her arm and frowned in confusion towards the hospital. She didn't look entirely happy. And she truly wasn't. "That, Sakura, is a Jashin circle. It's the marking of death of the Jashin religion. Hidan's religion." Her eyes became very sharp as she looked back into Sakura's confused eyes. "Sakura, this marking……it's what Jashin priests put on their victims when they sacrifice someone. But it can't be Hidan. We've kept such a close eye on him that he can't be the killer. There must be another Jashin voodooist in the Asylum." She said too thoughtfully.

Sakura was beyond confused but even more uneasy. She didn't like where Chiyo was going with this. "Do you think……it might be Orochimaru?" She asked, her voice trembling a little.

Somewhat surprised, Chiyo stared at her for a few seconds before pulling a face and shaking her head. "Oh, no. No, no, no, no. Orochimaru does not even tolerate religious beliefs. He's a scientist not a philosopher. Most scientists don't believe in life after death or resurrections or whatever religious beliefs. They believe in science. I wouldn't doubt that Orochimaru might be a little curious about the Jashin religion but he would never practice it. He doesn't have the patience for it. So it can't be him. But I do believe what Kakashi Hatake said a few days ago may be true. The Devil of the Suna Asylum murders has to be a doctor. But it can't be Orochimaru." She let out a long sigh before looking at the wrist watch she had on. "Oh, dear. It's getting way too late. You best be getting home. We do not want you to be falling asleep at the wheel."

Sakura just smiled but shook her head. "I think I'll be fine." She paused for a second. "I do have one other question before I take off, Ms. Chiyo." She said, quietly.

However, a creepy smile curled on the old woman's face, making Sakura draw back only a little. "Sakura, I may be old and I may be a little senile. But I do have eyes. I am fully aware of my grandson's sexuality." She grinned cheekily when Sakura's eyes snapped wide open but she shook her head as she turned and grabbed the handle of her car, pulling it open. "Sasori becoming gay was not Orochimaru's doing. He just never tolerated women very well after living with me all his life. He thinks women are crazy." She cackled a little before climbing into her car and started up the engine. "Go home and get some sleep, Sakura. It's been a long night." She told her before driving off.

For a long moment, Sakura stared after the car, still very wide eyed and alarmed that Chiyo even knew Sasori's secret. "That……that was not what I was going to ask." She murmured to no one in particular.

The drive home was fine, yet Sakura was still very bewildered by what she had learned from Chiyo. More or less, was dissatisfied that she didn't get to ask Chiyo if she knew where the chamber, The Devil's Whisper was. That was what she wanted to know, not if she knew about Sasori. She would just have to try and ask Chiyo again tomorrow when she got to work.

Finally, Sakura reached the apartments and parked into her own parking zone. She wondered if Itachi was home yet. She knew he probably angry at her for missing out on Martial Arts class that day but she just had to find the Devil's Whisper chamber. She had to stop all the madness that was going on at the Suna Asylum before one of her other patients got hurt. She shuddered to think that Gaara might get hurt because of the devil. But then again, she knew he could take care of himself just fine. Still, she was worried.

Getting out of her car and locking it, Sakura quickly hurrying to her apartment. She did not want to be outside too long at this time of the night. Going her keys, she looked for her apartment key as she made her way along the apartments and nearly ran into someone. She gasped as she stepped back as she looked up at who almost ran into. And froze.

Her emerald green eyes widened with horror to see Sasuke standing right in front of her. His head was lowered as was his eyes but the expression on his face was dark as she always remembered. He was wearing all black, going with his midnight colored hair very well. His hands, which Sakura was thankfully at least, were stuffed into his pockets. But it didn't help her fear at all. She felt a cold sweat breaking on her back and her eyes started to water by her fear.

"Sa-Sasuke!" She cried out quietly, not hiding her fear as she stepped back. Her body trembled violently and she had the urge to just run from him now.

"Don't." Sasuke said, almost sharply but kept his eyes adverted from her. But slowly, he lift them up and met her eyes with his dark, but cold gaze. It was that kind of look that scared Sakura nearly to death. She was almost paralyzed by his gaze. "Don't run, Sakura. I can outrun you any time. You know that."

"I……I'll sc-scream." Sakura said shakily, her hands pressing against her chest and letting her purse dangle on her elbow.

Sasuke smirked coldly but still didn't move any closer to her. He just remained right where he was standing. "Scream all you want. I didn't come here for a fight, Sakura. I came here to warn you." He dipped his head into a nod when she looked taken back. "I've been watching you for a while now, since that night. I know about you and that fucking red head. Honestly to say the least, I'm pissed about it. But I'm not here to yell at you or even fucking hit you for fucking that freak."

"He is not a……!" Sakura growled, now feeling anger more than fear at Sasuke.

The dark look on Sasuke's face shut her up really fast but he still didn't move towards her. He stood very still, glaring at her. It wasn't something he usually did. By now, he would have lunged forward and slapped her. But he still hadn't moved. "Sakura, get the fuck out of that hospital before you end up dead. He's not playing with you anymore. He will kill you." He told her, seriously.

Blinking in surprise, Sakura's mouth fell. "Wha-what? Who?!"

"The Devil of Suna Asylum, Sakura." Sasuke remarked, his head dipping low and his eyes darkening. He gave his head a little jiggle as if shaking it. "I can't tell you much about him only that he's getting very angry at you. You are fucking with his plans by involving yourself with Gaara Sabaku. He's sent me to make an example with you." He pulled his hand out from his pocket, making Sakura flinch away. But all it was, was a medium sized brown envelope. He held it out to her.

Shakily, Sakura looked from the envelope to him then back before she took an unsteady step forward. She was being very cautious for a very good reason. She wouldn't doubt it that Sasuke was only pulling this on her to get too close so he could grab her and choke the life out of her. "Wh-what is it?" She asked shakily.

Sasuke just shook his head as he continued to hold it out to her. He didn't look surprised when she snatched it from him and leapt back. He still didn't move from where he stood. "I don't know and I don't care. All he wanted me to do was give you that. Sakura, I'm warning you. Leave the Suna Asylum and get the hell out of the city. Go home to Konoha before he kills you too." He simply said before he turned and started walking away.

Surprised, Sakura watched him go. She couldn't believe that he was just leaving without putting up a fight or trying to hurt her. But more or less, he knew about the 'Devil'. "Sasuke!" She called after him, expecting him to ignore her. But to her surprise, he stopped and turned around, looking at her. She swallowed hard as she held the envelope closer to her chest. "Do……do you know……who is the devil?" She asked, nervously.

For a long moment, Sasuke didn't answer but stared at her. He just stared at her with his dark, cold eyes. But then after a long moment, he shook his head and turned away. "Don't look for him anymore, Sakura. He's already lost patience with you. If it wasn't for me, you'd be fucking dead by now. He wants to kill you because you're getting too close. But I won't let him." And then he was gone, vanishing in the shadows.

Sakura stood there, almost stunned. She couldn't believe that Sasuke had just left. He hadn't hit her or anything. He just left. For a long time, she stood there until she remembered the envelope in her hand. She turned her attention onto it, frowning in confusion. She wondered what was in it. What did the 'Devil' want Sasuke to give her as an example to leave? She didn't know if she wanted to know. She could feel that there was something inside of it. It was something solid, but soft. For a moment, she thought it was a ball or something. But she didn't want to squeeze it anymore just in case it could be something else.

Taking a deep breath, she opened the envelope and pulled out the ziplock bag that was inside of it, along with a letter.

A second later, she shrieked and dropped the ziplock bag when she saw an eyeball staring up at her from within the bag. There were juices and blood inside of it keeping it moist. But obviously, she had squeezed it a little. It was a dark eye but one she had seen before. It was Obito Uchiha's eye. Feeling sick, she quickly looked at the letter in her hand, her entire body trembled as she felt the sour taste in her mouth. It was typed so it would be very hard to even tell who wrote it.

_Doctor Haruno, _

_Take Sasuke's advice and leave or the next thing I will do will be  
__worst than what happened to Tobi. And it will be you that I do it  
__to. Take care of your decision, my dear Cherry Blossom. I did not  
__want to kill you but I will if I have to. _

_Best Wishes,  
__The Devil of Suna Asylum_

Sakura swallowed hard, feeling her bile rising before she dropped the letter and turned sharply to throw up. It didn't come out though. She felt it but it didn't come out. Instead, she felt a wave of dizziness roll over her before everything went dark. She even felt herself hit the ground painfully before she felt nothing more.


	18. Chapter 18

Title: The Devil's Whisper

Short Summary:  
Sakura is a Psychiatrist for a mental hospital for the Konoha Hospital who then gets moved to her dream job in the Suna Hospital for the Criminally Insane to take care of a very dangerous patient named Gaara. WARNING! Sasuke bashing!!

Pairings:  
Sakura/Sasuke (minor), Sakura/Gaara

Warning: Story contains implied and/ or scenes of: major language, torture, rape, angst, adult scenes, violence and probably more…

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of its characters. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

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**Warning: There's a pretty gory scene in this chapter.**

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**Chapter XVIII**

Sakura's head simply hurt, there was nothing more to say about that. She felt as if it had been bashed several times by something. Her body was a little achy too but she felt much relief as she felt the soft mattress under her. She groaned a little as she turned her head before nearly jumping to being awake when she felt a cold rag begin to dab her forehead. She snapped her eyes open before having to shut them again when a patch of sunlight shone on her face. She hissed a little as she rose a sore hand to shield her eyes.

"Sakura." She heard Itachi's voice.

Groaning again, Sakura tilted her head towards his voice and let her eyes flutter open. Her vision was blurry at first but after blinking a few times, she could see him just fine. He was sitting beside her bed, looking very concerned, yet serious at the same time. He wasn't alone. His friend, Kisame was there as well as Gai and Rock Lee. They all looked rather concerned but happy to see her waking up.

Itachi was the one who was dabbing her forehead with a cold, wet rag. He paused when her eyes opened and he tried to give her a smile. "Hey. You all right?" He asked quietly before going back to dabbing her forehead.

Sorely, Sakura nodded as she looked past him at his pals. "Yeah. Just my head hurts a little. What happened?" She asked.

"We're kind of hoping you can tell us that, Pin……" Kisame was saying.

Sakura's eyes flashed and she gave him a very serious look that left his sentence hanging. She was getting tired of being called that. It only made her think more and more about those infernal twins that Hanataro hung out with. "Do not call me Pinky." She said in a very dull way.

Rock Lee then stepped forward, trying to give her a charming grin. "I am so glad you're all right, Miss Sakura! When we found you lying outside, we were all so very worried about you!" He told her.

Sakura had to think for a moment of what he was talking about. She frowned to think of why she had been lying outside on the sidewalk. What happened again? For a moment, she saw nothing. But then it all came back to her. She gasped sharply as she remembered coming home and finding Sasuke waiting for her with a message and she remembered looking in the envelope. And she remembered what was in the envelope. Shooting up to sit up, Sakura looked wildly at Itachi, almost terrified. "Itachi! Sasuke was here last night! He was here waiting for me!" She told him.

It was Itachi's turn to look at her in surprise before he grabbed her hand, looking very concerned. "Sasuke?! What did he do to you?!" He demanded, knowing that he surprised the other three men but not caring that they had heard. He knew very well that Kisame was now looking a little surprised and was aware of what Sasuke had done to Sakura before.

Sakura shook her head as she looked around the room quickly, noting that she was in her room. She didn't see the envelope or the ziplock bag with Tobi's eye. "Itachi! There was a ziplock back with me! Where is it?!" She asked, quickly.

"It's with the ANBU, Sakura." Itachi told her, still sounding very concerned. "When we found you lying outside, we found it. I had Kisame call the ANBU and they came to pick it up. Do you know what or who the eye belongs to?"

"Tobi. It's your uncle's eye, Itachi." Sakura said, her voice now thick with emotion. "Did you see the letter? It was with me outside."

Itachi frowned but shook his head as he looked over his shoulder at Kisame. With only a glance, his best friend knew what he was asking of him. The large man just nodded once before he was hurrying out of the room and out of the apartment to look for the letter. During that time, Itachi looked back at Sakura. "Sakura, did Sasuke hurt you?" He asked, still worried.

Sakura shook her head, still a little surprised by Sasuke's reaction to her the night before. "No. Surprisingly, he didn't hurt me. He was only to deliver the message to me from the Devil." She could have smiled when Rock Lee and Gai both looked stunned to hear that. But she wasn't surprised to see Itachi looking rather grim. She hadn't exactly told him that she was looking for the killer of the Asylum. "I've been investigating the murders, Itachi. I know I should have told you. But I didn't want to worry you." She told him.

"Sakura, I do not want you messing with stuff like that. The Devil of the Suna Asylum is way too dangerous for even you. He's been killing for years now. He's even killed some of the doctors and nurses that tries to look in this." Itachi warned her.

"I know. But I have to do something! Tobi got hurt because of him! I have to stop him!" Sakura argued with him.

Itachi shook his head as he turned his attention away from her and onto Kisame when he returned with the letter. He quickly took it from him and read the letter. After reading it, he looked at her very seriously. "Sakura, I can't let you keep doing this! You keep putting yourself in danger. I did what I did to stand by yoiu when Sasuke hurt you. I kept my silence when you began a relationship with Gaara Sabaku. But this.....this is the last straw." He told her.

Sakura sighed as she pushed herself up and placed her feet on the floor. "Itachi, I will be fine! I swear!" She told him, trying to sound reassuring. But even she wasn't sure herself.

"What if you won't be, Sakura?" Itachi said, seriously now looking at her. He still looked concerned but he couldn't hide his disapproval of her decision of staying in the path of death. "I will not let you get yourself hurt."

"I won't stop working at the Asylum, Itachi. That place is my life now. I've fallen in love there. Not just with Gaara. But with my work. Tobi! Deidara! Even I care about Pein alot. I can't say that I like Hidan's attitude towards me, but I will not let anything happen to him either. I will not let the Devil of the Suna Asylum continue hurting people! It has to stop, Itachi! What if you were still there and you had been hurt next?! How do you think I would feel, brother?!"

Sighing quietly, Itachi lowered his head before giving it a light shake as he looked back into her eyes. He was quiet for a very long time as he stared into Sakura's emerald gaze with his onyx one before he nodded. "If you're going to keep working there, then I'm staying by you at all times now. I will not let this Devil get to you." He told her.

"Itachi." sighed Sakura, but she stopped when he gave her a look she was familiar with. There had been a few times that he had ever given her that look and those were the times that he was deciding to be completely stubborn and he was not going to turn away from the idea. Groaning, Sakura nodded, knowing that he wasn't going to let her do anything otherwise. So she would have to let him have her way. "Fine. But I think I better get to the Asylum right now and tell Kakashi. He has to know!"

Itachi nodded as he stood up and moved away from her bedside, all the while looking at the other three. "Thank you for sticking around." He told them.

Kisame, Gai and Rock Lee all nodded as they looked from Sakura to Itachi and back. They knew exactly how he felt. They felt just as worried about the pretty pink haired woman just as much as he was. "We'll go around the city and see if we can find out if anyone's seen that prick brother of yours." The best friend told Itachi.

Somewhat forlorn at his words, Itachi just nodded to his best friend.

Sakura, however, paused as she looked at Itachi, remembering what she had learned just the other day. She remembered what she had learned from Hanataro about Itachi's father, Fugaku. She knew she would have to tell him the truth sometime. But not now. Not with Kisame, Gai and Lee there with them.

It didn't take long for Sakura to get ready for work. Mostly she did was stare at the wall of her shower stall while massaging the shampoo and conditioner in her hair. She couldn't believe that Sasuke was actually working with the Devil now. But did he know who it was? He had to know. She was starting to piece together of how Sasuke might have met the Devil. It must have been the night he raped her. It must have been the Devil who made Sasuke disappear before he was caught. So that meant, all that time, he had been in the Asylum, watching her. He knew about her and Gaara. She had been surprised that he hadn't started beating her right then and there.

What the worst part was, Sasuke was working with the Devil. He was helping the killer murder people in the Asylum. But why? What did it do for him in the end? And why wouldn't he tell Sakura who the Devil was?

Itachi refused to leave Sakura's side when they got to the Asylum. He would not remove himself from her side, even with a few guards giving him a dry look. He returned the looks but would not have Sakura leaving his side at all. The first thing that Sakura had planned was finding Kakashi and letting him know what she had learned. So she and Itachi went straight to Tobi's room where he was still by his best friend's side

"Hey, Kakashi. How is he?" Sakura asked once she entered and went straight over to check Tobi's vitals.

Kakashi, whom looked very tired and worn out, just shook his head as he continued to hold Tobi's hand while he was sleeping. He had barely left his friend's side, other than going to get something to eat or visit the men's room. Other than that, he did most of his sleeping in the room. "I can't see how you can work here, Sakura. Three times last night, I woke up to someone shouting and making a fuss in their rooms." He told her, earning a smile from Sakura. "Obito's doing all right for someone so weak right now. He's woken up a few times but every time, he's gone a little nuts and keeps shouting about how he needs to kill the Devil before he gets to you. You've seemed to have left an imprint on him. He really likes you."

Sakura smiled but shook her head as she ran her fingers through Tobi's messy and unwashed hair, grimacing a little at the feel of it. She knew very well that he was going to need to get washed up soon. "Tobi's very special, Kakashi. He's just like a frightened child who needs someone there to take care of him." She told him, with a shrug as she went over and washed her hands then returned to beside Tobi's bed. Then she went into telling Kakashi about what happened the night before. She told him about Sasuke and what he had said and then about Tobi's eye and the letter. All the while, there was a very grim frown on his face as he listened to her. He didn't interupt at all but listened to her every word. His face only darkened when she told him of her suspicions of Sasuke being somewhere in the Asylum.

"I'll get right on it trying to locate him then. If he's here, I'll find him." Kakashi told her as he managed to pull his hand free from Tobi's grip and moved around the bed to Sakura, his eyes flickering over to Itachi, who gave him a nod. "We'll stop this, Sakura. I also need to call in my contact at the Suna ANBU to find out if they found anything about the Sabaku case. They must have found something by now." He told her.

Sighing, Sakura nodded as she folded her arms and looked sadly down at Tobi. She was worried about him and everyone in the Asylum. "We have to, Kakashi. We have to find the Devil killer and stop him. This has gone on long enough. If you can, pull up any information you have on the history of the Suna Asylum. Anything that deals with a hidden chamber called the Devil's Whisper." She said, nodding when she saw a frown on Kakashi's face. "I know. It's strange but....."

It was right at that moment, the sound of running caught their attention and pulled their eyes to the door just as a security guard appeared. He looked rather frantic and sweaty as if he had been running all over the place but very relieved to have found Sakura. "Doctor, I think you better come to the top floor right away! It's your patient, Hidan! He's just murdered Ms. Chiyo!" He told her.

Gasping sharply, Sakura slapped a hand over her mouth while her eyes snapped wide open. Beside her, Kakashi and Itachi stiffened with their own alarm before grabbing her arms and pulling her after them and the security guard.

The top floor was a frenzy as there were doctors and nurses all over the place, talking wildly to one another. There were security guards everywhere, trying to keep them away from Chiyo's office. The most people were standing outside the office, trying to look in but the guards weren't letting them. Baki was there, at the doors, barking orders to guards and telling people to back off. But as soon as he saw Sakura, Kakashi and Itachi coming, he barked at people to move their asses out of the way to let them through.

"Baki! What happened?!" Sakura gasped, her eyes stinging with tears as she let Kakashi pull her towards the door. "Where's Ms Chiyo?!"

Baki looked rather grim as he looked at her before he let out a sigh and lowered his head. He didn't answer but threw his thumb over his shoulder to the door. "Be careful, Doctor Haruno. It's a real mess in there. He's ripped her apart." He said grimly.

Hesitantly, Sakura pushed past him and entered the room, only to freeze with a sharp, painful gasp as soon as she saw all the blood all over the floor and on the walls. It was a massacre in there. Most of the mess was on the desk, where the remains of Chiyo Akasuna was lying. Seeing the body that she had only seen nearly six to eight hours before, Sakura gave a choke as she slapped a hand over her mouth to hide the choking sob starting to erupt from deep within.

There was shouting in the office but she could barely hear it. All of the sounds seemed to have been muffled to her. She just looked right at Chiyo's body as she moved closer to it and saw exactly what mess it was in. Chiyo's body was lying half way on the desk where her top torso had been ripped open. It was a grisly sight looking into her chest and seeing all of that blood and gore. Her throat had been slashed open and cut all the way down to her stomach, where Sakura could see in the insides. She felt sick but nothing would come out. She felt dizzy but she wasn't going to faint this time. She couldn't do anything but let the tears come and begin to fall down her cheeks. She finally noticed Sasori, standing off to the side. He was the one shouting as he looked at his grandmother's dead body with horror. He was demanding to know how this had happened and who had killed Chiyo. He was trying to get closer to the body, but Madara had a firm grip on his arm and was keeping him back. He was the only one in the room that was keeping his head about the entire situation, yet there was some shock in his dark eyes. He was looked at the body, almost painfully but not emotional like Sasori or Sakura.

"Sakura."

Blinking only a few times, Sakura finally realized that someone was calling her name and she looked to see Temari and Kankuro standing right next to her, both looking just as horrible as Sasori. Temari's eyes were red from crying and there were tear stains running down her cheeks. She looked like a mess but still beautiful at the same time. Kankuro was just as bad. His eyes were very red but he was fighting the tears a lot better than Temari was.

Letting out a choked sob, Sakura quickly turned and grabbed both of them, pulling them into an embrace. She broke down with Temari, who buried her face into her shoulder. "Wh-why did this happen?! What happened?! Wh-who did this to her?! When?!" She choked out her questions.

"They're saying that it was Hidan, Sakura. He was found in here, covered in blood, just staring at the body." Kankuro told her, rather painfully.

Sakura pulled away and looked wildly at him with shock. She couldn't believe it was Hidan though. She knew he was completely out of his mind and always saying he was going to sacrifice people but how in the hell did he get out of his room without anyone stopping him. "Hidan?! But how.....?!" She was asking.

Temari shook her head as she wiped her tears from her face. "According to one of the early morning security guards, Chiyo came back to the Asylum two hours after she left. He said that she looked really surprised about something and was just rushing up to her office as if she had left something important there." She shook her head as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a handkerchief. "He said he checked on her and said that she was at her desk, looking over stacks of paper, going through files after files. She was working on something but no one can find out now because all of her papers have been soaked in her blood. No one even heard her scream. All we know was that Baki came in several hours ago and noticed that someone was talking in Chiyo's office. He came in to check and that's when he found Hidan just standing there, talking to himself. He was covered in blood and just staring at Chiyo's body. He didn't even have a weapon in his hand. He was just standing there, staring." She explained.

Kankuro shook his head. "Baki set off the alarm immediately once he shot Hidan with a sedative and had him taken to one of the interrogation rooms. He's down there now, handcuffed to his chair and not being allowed to move or anything." He told Sakura.

Sakura looked over her shoulder at the body of Chiyo, her head shaking as she felt another choking sob rising out of her. She couldn't believe that Chiyo was dead. She was gone. She was ripped apart in her own office. But why? What gave Hidan the idea of even killing her? How did he even leave his room without authorization? And the most important thing to ask, what had been Chiyo looking for before she was murdered? She must have thought of something while at home before returning to the Asylum.

"Why? Why did he do this?" Sakura heard herself ask painfully.

"Hidan's a fucking lunatic, Sakura. I'm sorry to say, but you can't help him. He's totally nuts." Kankuro answered, thinking she was talking about Hidan.

Shaking her head, Sakura turned slowly and moved ever closer to Chiyo's desk, looking at her body with tears in her eyes. "Not Hidan." She murmured, surprising the Sabaku siblings. "Not Hidan. Sasuke. Why is Sasuke working with the Devil?" That shut up a lot of people and almost all eyes looked right over to Sakura. They all heard her. Even Sasori stopped shouting and looked wildly at her with surprise. No one spoke as Sakura just stared at Chiyo's body. "Sasuke came to me last night, with a letter from the Devil." Sakura turned sharply and looked seriously around the room at every single person in the room. "A threat letter that I better leave Suna Asylum and leave him to killing people. Well, guess what? I'm not going anywhere." She said very darkly.

Still, everyone was surprised by her sudden change of attitude but some had to admire her bravery. After being threatened by the Devil, they would have expected her to be running for the hills. But she was so determined to finding out the Devil now that Chiyo was dead. Temari and Kankuro's face softened into smiles and they nodded their support to her.

Turning back sharply, Sakura went right over to the desk and began grabbing papers, grimacing as she tried to pull some out from under Chiyo's body.

"Doctor, what are you doing?!" Baki asked, in alarm.

Sakura shook her head as she grabbed papers and quickly looked at them. She gave Chiyo's body an apologetic look when she had to push it a little to get under it, getting more bloodied papers. She shook her head again as she tried to read the words on the paper before putting it down to the side. "I'm looking for what Chiyo was looking for, Baki! I talked to her last night, but she didn't seem to know anything! So she must have thought of something that brought her back to work in her office! She was looking for something that might help us find out what we need!" She grew a little flustered when she couldn't find anything that wasn't covered in blood and ruined. "Whatever it was, that's what got her killed! She knew something!" She said, pausing only once before turning around and looking around the room for the someone she suspected. "I don't know if Hidan really killed her but I have my own suspicions."

Nope. He wasn't there.

"Baki!" Sakura said sharply, now looking right at the Head of Security. "Find Doctor Orochimaru right now, please and have him detained. I think he's the Devil!"

Everyone was stunned by her accusation but even as she had said it, both Madara and Sasori's face changed to a look of understanding. "That's a very serious accusation, Miss Haruno. Why would you.....?" The Head of the Medical Examiners was saying.

Sakura didn't answer just yet. She went back to searching through the papers before she let out a frustrated sigh and looked at Chiyo. "Where is it, Chiyo? I know you found something. But what was it?" She asked, almost helplessly.

As if Chiyo's spirit heard her, something fell out of Chiyo's clenched hand, onto the floor and catching Sakura's attention. It was a wad up piece of paper. Frowning, Sakura ducked down and snatched it up. She quickly pulled it open and looked at it, freezing at the words. In a way, it looked like a suicide note but Sakura knew that it couldn't have been. Chiyo had been murdered by who everyone thought was Hidan. And it was addressed to Sasori. But the strangest thing about the letter was that it was so jumbled up and there were mistakes everywhere. Still she read it.

_My Dearest sasori, _

_By the time you read this, **I** **will be** dead. KILLED **by** my Own hand. I leave you with my heaRt. I have nOt been the greatest grandmother to you, sasori. I **C**ould not sHeIld you froM the **horrors** of **your pARents**' deaths. The Day of yoUr parents' **murder**, I promised to Protect You from harm. But alas, I cannot. You must be strong and HELP **Temari and Kankuro **Sabaku. They will NEED your help running the Asylum. You will become the next warden, so it says by my will. You must protect this Asylum, sasori, and its patients **from** harm. Do not be _mad_, my precious grandson. And do what you were born to do. Th_a_t is to be sma_r_t _a_nd find the killer. Take care of yourself and Salamander. He is hidang somewhere in the hospital. Find him and stop him from killing more people. _

_With all my love, _

_Granny Chiyo_

_P.S. Sakura Haruno, I know you will read this. You are a brilliant doctor and I know you can work this out with the hospital. I entrust you with all of Gaara's files. Use them well._

Slowly, she looked at the red haired doctor before she decided to read it out loud. She read it to everyone in the room, letting them all listen carefully as she read every word. She didn't point out all the mistakes though but instead looked right at Shikamaru after she finished. "Shikamaru, it's time to put that brain into gear and figure this out." She told him.

Frowning, Shikamaru gave her a confused look before hurrying over to her and taking the letter while a few others moved closer to see what she meant. They all froze to see all the letters and words in bold and large letters. That was too many mistakes for a warden of an Asylum to make. It didn't take a genius to point out that she was trying to say something else other than what was said in the letter. The lazy genius of a Security Guard knew that above all. He quickly pulled the letter away from Sakura and stepped back away from everyone.

"Hey!" Kankuro growled at him.

"Shut up! I'm trying to think!" Shikamaru growled right back as his eyes danced over the paper. He quickly read the letter over and over again, while everyone just watched him.

Sakura had to place a hand onto Kankuro's arm to keep him quiet because he looked like he was about to argue again. But she just shushed him and shook her head at him while watching Shikamaru. They all watched as he read the letter almost a sixth time before closing his eyes and trying to concentrate. It took a long three minutes before his eyes snapped open and he looked frantically around for something. Grabbing a paper and a pen, he pushed past everyone and began writing something. Everyone crowded around the desk but gave Shikamaru enough room to concentrate.

"Shikamaru, do you get it?" Temari asked, hurriedly.

Shikamaru shook his head as he quickly jotted down all of the words in bold and and then all of the capitolized letters. He even wrote down Sasori's name, which made a few glance at the red haired doctor, who was frowning in bewilderment but his own concentration as he read the letter for himself. "Somewhat. It's addressed to Sasori, so that means this was for him to see. His name is all in small letters though. So that's kind of pointing him out. It's either the fact he's the one who's behind all of this......" He paused when Sasori shot him a very dark look for that. "Or, you're the next victim, Sasori." He told him.

Sasori was just as taken back as everyone else. Even Sakura looked at him with concern but looked back at the paper that Shikamaru was writing on. "What else, Shikamaru? What else is there?" She asked, worriedly.

"Well, looking at all of the bold words, if we put them together, it says 'I will be' and then 'by'. But that doesn't really make sense. So I pull KILLED there. So it says 'I will be killed by'. But it still doesn't make too much sense because there's really no name there. Then we have 'C' And then horrors, your parents. But the A and R are capitolized. So I'm guessing that's some kind of code. I think I'll put all of the capitolized letters off to the side." Shikamaru explained, writing all of the capitol letters to the side of the paper before continuing writing all of the bold words. "We have 'murder'. And then 'Temari and Kankuro'. Seems to me that you guys are being pointed out too."

Both Temari and Kankuro stepped back looking alarmed. "Us?! But why?! I hope that Chiyo's not blaming us because why would we do that?!" The older sister exclaimed.

"I think you guys have been named victims too, Temari. That's what Shikamaru is trying to say." Sakura said, now very worried for her two friends. She did not want to see them in danger any more than her patients. She didn't know what she would do if they got hurt. They were her friends.

Shikamaru nodded as he glanced at Temari, trying to give her a faint smile. "You're going to be all right, Temari. We won't let anything happen to you and Kankuro, all right?" He told her, getting a smile from her. It was almost cute when Temari smiled right back. But again, Shikamaru's attention was back on the letter. "All right. We also have from. a, r and a. Okay. None of this makes sense." He murmured closing his eyes again as he began concentrating.

"You can do it, Shikamaru. I know you can. You weren't the smartest kid in our school for nothing." Sakura told him, biting her lip as she watched him.

After a long moment, Shikamaru's eyes snapped open and he looked almost stunned with what he just came up with. It seemed that he had caught on. He must have just by that look on his face. He quickly grabbed another paper and began writing. On the paper he wrote;

**I will be killed by O. R. O. C. H. I. M. horrors, your parents.**

Shikamaru then scratched out 'horrors' and 'your parents' but left a and r. Then he added u.

Which left it to say; **I will be killed by Orochimaru. **

There were several gasps in the room as hands slapped over mouths and jaws fell with shock. Shikamaru, however, kept writing. He wrote murder and Protect You. He wrote down Temari and Kankuro, then NEED and from. He then wrote down the two underlined words, find and killer. And finally, the misspelled word, hidang and crossed out the G.

"I got it. Chiyo wasn't killed by Hidan. She was killed by Orochimaru. The horror must mean of what we're seeing now. There's a horror in the Asylum right now. It points out that Sasori's parents were murdered. And that Temari and Kankuro are in trouble." Shikamaru said, sounding grim. "But what I don't get is why would Orochimaru kill Chiyo? Why would she even say that he killed her?"

Sakura's face fell into a dark look as she balled up her fists. She had a very good idea of why Orochimaru would kill Chiyo. "Because Orochimaru is after Sasori." She stated, getting everyone's attention, surprising them all. She shook her head as her face just grew darker. "Temari, Shikamaru and I found out that Orochimaru is homosexual but what they didn't find and I did was there was a picture of Sasori in Orochimaru's desk. He must have killed Chiyo to get her out of the way so he could get ot Sasori. He wants Sasori!"

"But......" Kankuro said, flabbergasted as he looked wide eyed at his sister and Shikamaru before turning to look at Sasori. To his and everyone's surprise, he was gone.

While everyone had been caught up in the moment, Sasori had left the room. He had caught sight of something else and the fact that it said that Orochimaru killed Chiyo, he left with a look of rage on his face to go find the Mortician himself.

"Baki! Alert everyone! Find Orochimaru! NOW!!" Temari nearly screamed with her own look of rage. She wasn't sure if Orochimaru really had anything to do with Chiyo's murder but she wasn't going to take a chance. She wanted him found and arrested.

"That's not the only thing." Shikamaru remarked, now tapping Hidan's name, getting their attention. "Hidan was caught in here. So if Orochimaru killed Chiyo, he's putting the blame on him. But.....there's something else. It says that Temari and Kankuro are in danger too. Why would they be in danger? They didn't do anything." He shook his head as his face grew serious. "Maybe its the fact that they own this hospital. Their family runs this place. And who in the hell is Hidan the most afraid of in the entire hospital?"

That everyone in confused silence as they tried to think of the answer. Even Sakura was frowning in confusion as she tried to think. She looked away, hoping that she might spot something that might answer that. And her eyes found the file lying on the ground, nearly hidden under the cabinent. With a frown, she bent over and picked it up, looking at it. Her eyes snapped wide open when saw that it was Gaara's file. It was the file that Chiyo said she was leaving in Sakura's care. But even as she saw the file, the answer came to her. "Gaara!" She gasped, spinning around, looking wide eyed at everyone. "Hidan is afraid of Gaara!"

"Gaara?! But why......?" Kakashi was asking with a frown.

"Because he's the most scariest person in this entire hospital." Temari said as it dawned on her. "He's got such a temper and he's known to beat the living shit out of anyone that pisses him off that everyone's scared of him. Everyone but Sakura, Kanky and me. Sasori's not afraid of him and neither was Chiyo or Madara. But everyone else, Hidan especially, was terrified of him."

"Without us being around," Kankuro jumped in, just as stunned. "We're in charge of him even being here at the Asylum! Without us, and him nearly getting thrown into prison for being blamed for raping Sakura, he would have been taken to prison! Without Gaara here....."

"Hidan would end up being the next most dangerous patient." Shikamaru said, now looking very serious. "It couldn't be Pein because he doesn't do shit. He just sits there and glares at people and not even talk to anyone. Tobi is too cheerful to be a killer. He's killed only one person but he's getting better because of Sakura. Deidara.....well, he's weird but he's not much of a killer. So it's Hidan. He's the Devil."

Sakura shook her head as she ran her fingers through her hair. "No. Hidan can't be the devil. When Tobi's eye was removed, it was a clean cut. Hidan probably doesn't know jack about medical incisors and all that stuff. He probably just hacks through anything with a knife. So it has to be Orochimaru." She stated.

"There's only one way of finding out is asking Hidan." Kakashi said grimly.

Slowly, Sakura nodded as she hugged Gaara's file close to her and looked at Kakashi and Itachi, who were watching her. "I will talk to him. I think it's about time I got a little strict with him anyway." She said, seriously.

Dealing with Hidan proved to be very difficult, though Sakura had always known that. She just hadn't realized exactly how difficult he could be. She had always known him to be very stubborn but this was ridiculous. Upon even going near the room he was kept in, Kakashi convinced her and everyone that he try to talk Hidan into talking to him first. She knew very well it was the fact that he was a killer and didn't want her to get hurt because of her patient. And because Temari and Kankuro agreed, Sakura hat to go along with it.

So, she along with everyone were standing behind the mirrored window, looking in and watching Kakashi attempt to talk to Hidan. Sakura also saw Sai in the room but he was talking to someone very quietly on his phone. She was actually surprised he even had a cell. He hardly spoke to anyone and when he did, it was insults he decided to throw at people. So she couldn't help but wonder who he was talking to. She also found herself dreading the answer. She wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know who Sai would want to talk to. But she did also have a feeling that he was alerting his boss, Danzo Root about Chiyo's death. That wasn't going to be good. She knew it wasn't.

After a while of trying to talk to Hidan, only to have the insane voodooist laugh in his face and simply said that he spilt so much blood, bathing in it for the God of Death and Destruction, Kakashi grew frustrated and left the room.

"He's not going to tell us anything other than that." The silver haired, very annoyed ANBU growled.

However, Sakura was taken by surprise when she heard what Hidan had said, especially about the God of Death and Destruction. Her mind immediately flashed to the history about The Devil's Whisper. She remembered reading that the shiek had started sacrificing people to the God of Death and Destruction. She seriously felt as if the air had been knocked out of her lungs.

Turning sharply, she grabbed her bag and quickly began digging through it, not caring if anyone was actually watching her. She knew that some of her colleagues and friends had seen her but she ignored them. She just dug into her bag until she found Hidan's file. She pulled it out and yanked it open, looking at his information. Her breath caught in her chest as she read where exactly Hidan was from. She couldn't believe it. He was from the Hot Springs Country, where the shiek had learned about a religion of sacrificing people.

The Jashin Religion.

"Oh, my god." Sakura murmured, catching everyone's attention. She was fully aware of them staring at her but she paid no attention to them. Instead, she continued reading Hidan's file.

According to his police records, he had been caught sacrificing mostly women and children to the God of Death and Destruction, whose name was not exactly released. He had even killed his own family. It sounded way too familiar. It sounded just like the story of the villianous shiek. Hidan's history was almost the same.

Turning sharply, Sakura looked around at everyone before letting her eyes settle right on Madara. "Madara, whose idea was it to bring Hidan to the Suna Asylum?" She asked quickly. "When he was caught, who sentenced him here?"

There was a very long silence as Madara stared at her almost in shock and confusion. He stared at her with alarm but after a long moment, his dark eyes narrowed as he shook his head. "Hidan was sentenced here by the courts of Yugakure. It wasn't really anyone's idea. Chiyo made the approval but I brought it to her attention when one of the courts made contact with us. Why do you ask?" He asked, sounding very careful.

"Damn it." Sakura groaned, shaking her head. "Well, it's just....I've been reading up the history of the Asylum. I read that this entire land used to belong to a shiek hundreds of years ago......"

"Shukaku?" Temari and Kankuro asked in bewilderment. "You're referring to Shukaku the Savage Shiek, right?"

Sakura blinked in surprise at the very name, her mind immediately racing to Gaara and the name of his Boogy Man. She was very surprised to hear that was even the name of the shiek. "Uh.....I don't know what the name was. It wasn't recorded in the documents. It just said that he lived in a fortress that used to stand where the Asylum stands now. He ravaged lands and killed a lot of people. And then he went to Yugakure to plunder their riches but instead learned about the Jashinism. The voodoo religion of Jashin. He brought it back here and performed his own rituals, sacrificing people." She told them all.

Temari's mouth fell open as she looked at her younger brother, while everyone else just looked just as alarmed. They weren't too sure where Sakura was going with this but they started to get the idea that she was figuring it out. "Shukaku, the Savage Shiek. That was what he was called, the shiek who used to reign over the entire desert. It was a legend. A boogy man story that mothers told their kids to scare them to behaving. It's the story that Yondaime used to tell Gaara to scare the bejeezus out of him. Legend about Shukaku said that after he was killed by his enemies, his spirit remained in the desert, haunting people and threatening to kill children. To make him go away, one was to say.....I don't remember what they used to say. It was just a story." She told Sakura.

Kankuro nodded, still looked just as alarmed. "It sure scared the hell out of Gaara, I'll tell you that. He woke up screaming several times in the night when he was a kid, saying that Shukaku was trying to get him. Temari had to sneak in his room a lot to try and calm him down."

Sakura shook her head, still completely stunned with what she figured out. "Don't you see?! That's why Hidan is here! He's got to be the Devil! The Jashin voodooist were called devils, weren't they?!" She asked but didn't let anyone answer. Instead, she turned quickly and went straight to the doors.

"Sakura! No! Wait......!" Kakashi tried to argue with her.

But Sakura didn't listen. She just hurried into the visiting room and over to the table where Hidan was sitting. He had looked up when the door open and sneered when he saw his doctor. He didn't say anything though but just watched her as she hurried to the table, nearly in front of him. "Hidan! You tell me right now." The pinkette said very seriously, looking right into Hidan's eyes to show him that she was not playing around with him. "I want the truth right now. Are you the Devil of the Suna Asylum?"

Hidan paused as he let her question hit him before he grinned wickedly at her, his head dipping down a little and letting his long silver white hair fall over his violet colored eyes. "Me? The Devil? What if I am, you fucking bitch?"

"Hidan! Your religion is based on nothing but brutality and blood thirst! It's not even a religion! It's a monstrocity!" Sakura said sharply, not even hiding the fact that she was getting angry with him. She figured that if she pushed his buttons, he would become equally angry and finally confess. Anger usually did that to someone.

However, Hidan snorted as his head dipped lower. "My religion, the Jashin is based on shedding the blood of life, you cunt. Share the life, gain strength. Drinking the blood, gain energy. It's brutal to only those who don't understand it." He said, in a very husky but dark tone. "We, the Jashin, sacrifice fucking lower beings to the God of Death and Destruction to keep him satisfied. If we didn't fucking sacrifice those fucking people, you would have our Dark lord coming to this world and taking it apart, bloody bit to bloody bit. We, the Jashin, are the fucking saviors of this fucking world, even if the fucking people aren't worthy!" He snapped at her.

"It's not a religion, Hidan. It's a blood lust that the Jashin are obssessed over." Sakura said, frowning at him.

"What the fuck would you know, you stupid bitch?!" snarled Hidan, his eyes flashing. "Have you ever seen a Jashin ritual take place?!

Sakura felt a light bulb go right off in her head and she was hit with an idea. She was curious about the Jashin religion and maybe, just maybe, she would get the answers she needed that would help her solve this mystery. "No. I haven't, Hidan. Tell me about the rituals. What needs to be done?" She asked, tilting her head in an innocent curiousity.

As she had hoped, Hidan wasn't suspicious. He just laughed harshly before leaning forward. "The rituals are a way of saving your fucking, measly life, you earthly whore. I can't even believe we, the Jashin, even try." He shook his head. "The Jashin must have a unwilling sacrifice. The God of Death likes it when they're fighting and screaming during the entire ritual. The place of sacrifice must be dark, lit only by candles of blood red. There is a pentagram." He told her.

"Like this?" Sakura asked, showing the fading mark she had written on her arm the night before.

Seeing it, Hidan's eyes snapped wide open as he looked at it with surprise. He looked almost stunned, actually. It was like he had never seen anything like it before until now. For a moment, he stared at it before snapping his eyes up to Sakura's face, looking almost disgusted. "You fucking wrote that on your fucking arm?!" He demanded.

Sakura, somewhat taken aback, lowered her arm but nodded. "Yes. Why? What does it mean if I do that?" She asked.

"YOU FUCKING IDIOT!! DO YOU SERIOUSLY WANT TO BE SACRIFICED?!" Hidan roared at her now forcing himself to stand up, yanking his hands up, only to have them jerked back down because he was still hand cuffed to his chair. He had a hard time standing up with his hands trapped between his legs to the chair. But his eyes flashed dangerously while Sakura stepped back in alarm. "YOU FUCKING BITCH! WRITING THE JASHIN MARKING ON YOURSELF IS LIKE FUCKING SAYING, KILL ME!!"

"Hidan! Tell me more about the rituals!" Sakura quickly said over his shouts.

Laughing harshly, Hidan yanked at his cuffs again, still trying to pull himself free. He didn't even bother to look at Kakashi as he quickly entered the room. His eyes just stayed on Sakura, an evil smile on his face. "You fucking want to know about the rituals?! We, the Jashin, start with the head! We cut the tongue out force the sacrifice to eat it! Even if they are already dead! Then we cut open the chest and rip out the fucking heart! We prefer them still alive, where the heart is still beating so he can offer it up to the God!" He shook his head as he bared his teeth at her. "And we fucking do this in a pentagram written in the sacrifice's blood! That fucking symbol!" He shouted at her nodding to the marking on her arm.

Sakura slowly nodded as her face grew more serious. "Since you've even came here, have you been killing all of the people? The patients, the doctors? Zaku?" She asked, seriously.

Hidan sneered at her but bobbed his head up and down. "Yeah. That was all fucking me. The Devil let me out of my room to do all of that." He told her, and nearly laughed in her face when she looked surprised. "What, you really think I'm the fucking devil, cunt?! NO! I'm A Devil! A minion! I'm the knife the Devil welds to cut down fucking pathetic lives!" He yelled at her.

"Did you kill Chiyo?" Sakura asked now somewhat calmly.

Hidan snorted but shook his head as he seemed to calm down himself. "Fuck no. She wasn't worth being a sacrifice to my Dark Lord. She was too fucking old. She was going to die soon anyway. She only pissed of that fucking snake man when she tried to fire him." He told her.

Sakura gave him a look of surprise but her eyes narrowed a little. "Chiyo tried to fire Orochimaru?" She asked, calmly.

"Fuck, yeah. And it's about fucking time! If I have to listen to him fucking talking about shoving his cock up that fuck face bitch's ass one more time, I'd fucking go nuts! Nuttier than I already fucking am!" He snapped.

"Why were you in Chiyo's office, covered in her blood?" Kakashi now asked, not moving away from the doorway of the mirrored room. "If you didn't kill her, why were you in there?"

Hidan's violet eyes flickered over to him before he shook his head as he lift his head up higher. "Because I tried to fucking save her. That's fucking why! I tried to stop the fucking bleeding that the fucking snake caused to her throat. Did you fucking know that the blank ass, the one who works for the fucking old geezard has mentioned that if the old bitch dies, this hospital becomes the old fart's?!" he demanded.

Sakura and Kakashi grew still as they stared at him in surprise. They weren't too sure who he was talking about. "What?" The pink haired doctor was asking.

"That's right."

Jumping at the voice, Sakura turned sharply with Kakashi to see the old man, himself, Danzo Root standing in the door way with his body guard, Sai. Hanataro Haruno was even there, but staring at Sakura with a lot of sympathy. "Mr. Danzo Root!" Sakura said in surprise.

Danzo looked at her very seriously before shaking his head and looking at the door where Temari and Kankuro just appeared with Madara, who's face was darkening at the sight of the old man. "I recieved the report about Chiyo's murder and I have to say, I am disappointed that no one told me that it was THIS serious. By the decision of the International Board of Mental Health, the Suna City Asylum for the Criminally Insane will be shut down. The patients of this hospital will be discharged from here and sent to various other hospitals, or better yet, prisons." He said in a calm, cold tone.

Sakura felt her entire body grow cold to hear that. She knew very well that meant Gaara too. He was to go to a prison. "No. You can't......" She said almost painfully. "Please, Mr. Root! You can't send them.......!"

"Miss Haruno," Danzo said very coldly, now looking directly at her. "I wouldn't speak if I were you. I also recieved a message from a reliable source that you have been very intimate with one of your patients. And not just with any one of your patients, the most dangerous one."

Her hand slapping over her mouth, Sakura knew that her deepest fears had just been confirmed. She felt the blood drainging from her face and her heart was nearly stopping in her chest. She had been caught somehow. She and Gaara had been found out. She saw that even Temari and Itachi even grew very stiff while everyone else just looked confused. "Wh-what?" She asked in disbelief.

Danzo shook his head as he tapped his cane impatiently. "Your patient will be removed from the hospital and sent to the prison. While you on the other hand, will have your medical license revoked and you will never work in another hospital again for being intimate with a criminal." He told her calmly. "Don't worry about your patient, Deidara, though. He'll be well treated in the prison. Though I can't say that he'll live very long in the prison we will be sending him too for lying and pretending to be a mentally unstable criminal."

Sakura's mouth dropped. "What?! Deidara?!" She practically shrieked in shock.


	19. Chapter 19

Title: The Devil's Whisper

Short Summary:  
Sakura is a Psychiatrist for a mental hospital for the Konoha Hospital who then gets moved to her dream job in the Suna Hospital for the Criminally Insane to take care of a very dangerous patient named Gaara. WARNING! Sasuke bashing!!

Pairings:  
Sakura/Sasuke (minor), Sakura/Gaara

Warning: Story contains implied and/ or scenes of: major language, torture, rape, angst, adult scenes, violence and probably more…

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of its characters. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

**Chapter XIX**

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!! Hold the fucking phone, Danzo!" Kankuro was the one who broke out of his shock first. He was waving his hands in the air as he pushed past Kakashi and stepped in between Sakura and the old man, almost shielding her from him. "Sakura?! With Deidara?! Are you fucking nuts?!"

Danzo gave him a very dry glare before lifting his head higher. "Mr. Sabaku, I have it under......" He was saying.

Kankuro snorted very loudly and shook his head as he folded his arms over his chest. He looked like he was about to laugh right in the old man's face. "Your fucking reliable sources aren't that reliable then, Danzo! Because I can guarantee it, there is nothing going on between Sakura and Deidara." He told him, almost laughing.

"Mr. Sabaku, I would trust my sources a lot better than I would trust you. Now, I have it that Doctor Haruno and Deidara has been spending a lot of time together....." The old man was saying again.

"Are you that senile, Danzo?" Temari now asked, her own arms folding over her chest as she gave him a very unpleasant look. "Sakura is his doctor! Of course she's spending time with him! She spends time with all of her patients! As for this hospital being shut down, that's not happening! If it was actually official, you and the Board would have called me and Kankuro in for the meeting!" She told him.

Danzo gave them both an unpleasant look. "Miss Sabaku, I have had from my sources that Doctor Haruno and Deidara were seen together. I trust my sources....." He was once again interrupted.

"Danzo, you senile, old prick." Kankuro growled, his eyes narrowing dangerously. "I bet your information came from Orochimaru, himself. Here's the news flash, old man." He leaned forward, now looking wildly, yet annoyed at Danzo. "Deidara Iwa is fucking gay! He's not into chicks! He's a fucking fruitcake! He's homo! He's been gay since he even entered High School!" He practically yelled.

Everyone went completely quiet as they stared at Kankuro with jaws dropped, Sakura and Temari especially. They had no idea of how Kankuro had found out or how long he had known.

"Kankuro, how did you....." Temari asked very slowly.

Kankuro gave her a very impatient look as he scoffed at her. He looked as if he wanted to reach over and give her a little slap on the face. "For God's sake, Temari. If you would have at least stopped being a typical high school girl for one minute, you would have noticed that Deidara has been to Suna High before in the transfer student program. He was a Sophomore that year, the same year you were. That's how he fucking met Sasori. That's why they even fucking know each other." He told her dryly. He turned his eyes back onto Danzo. "I caught the guy always watching other guys getting dressed after P.E. And I've seen him go out with other guys many times. He's never once, paid attention to all the fricken hot cheerleaders like a normal guy would. He's gay, Danzo. And I know he had a crush on my cuz, Sasori. Your fucking your information probably came from Orochimaru, didn't it?"

Danzo didn't answer but glared at him. He didn't need to answer.

Laughing sharply, Kankuro unfolded his arms, letting them swing a little at his sides as he shifted his weight. "Another news flash for you, Danzo. Orochimaru fucking murdered Chiyo! You probably didn't hear that one because Mr. Blank Ass, there," He pointed at Sai, who stared at him blankly. "Wasn't in the fucking room when Sakura and Shikamaru figured out the effing letter that Chiyo left behind! So, Hell knows that you got the wrong information! Besides, Sakura Haruno is dating me." He told the old man, grinning devilishly.

"What?!" Temari and Sakura both yelped. They shut up pretty fast though when Kankuro turned a serious eye onto them. They caught the message very quickly. He was only telling Danzo this to keep Sakura out of trouble. They were sure he didn't know about Sakura and Gaara's new relationship but either way, he was keeping her from getting fired.

"You and Miss Haruno?" Danzo asked, however, sounding unconvinced.

Kankuro put on a cocky grin as he went over to stand right next to Sakura, slinging an arm around her waist and pulling her against him. It took a lot for Sakura not to jerk away and slug him when resting his hand on her thigh, near her ass. She knew he was just doing that for two reasons.

One, to convince Danzo that they were in a relationship and two, he was being perverted again. Squeezing her ass lightly proved that one. So she settled for resting her arm around his waist and digging her nails into his side, hard. She heard him suck in air, trying to keep himself from grunting in pain. But still, it gave her some satisfaction for his perverted ways.

"That's right, Danzo. Not that my personal life is any of your business, or hers for that matter." The Sabaku Sibling said grinning at the old man. His grin then faded and he looked very serious as he dipped his head down a little. "As it is, I know the rules around here. I know how the whole about shutting down a hospital goes. My old man always wanted me to take over this hospital when I was old enough, but as we all know, I'm too irresponsible to do it. That's why, Danzo, Temari is in charge of the financial issues. And Chiyo just put Sasori in charge of this Asylum." He shook his head as he continued to look Danzo right in the eyes. "You may be on the Board of Mental Health, Root. But you do not have the authority to just waltz right in here and shut down this Asylum without the legal papers. I don't see any papers in your hands right now. So I'm guessing you don't have them. Therefore, as it says in the Guide and Rules of Mental Health book, you can't shut this god damned hospital down until we have a hearing with the board whenever you feel like it. So get the hell out of here and don't come back until you do have those legal papers." Kankuro said, very darkly.

Danzo's one good eye narrowed just as darkly but he kept his cool very well after being lectured by this punk. His head dipping low and giving Kankuro a very dangerous, stern look as he turned slightly away. "I must say, Mr. Sabaku, you have impressed me a little. I was aware of you just being a punk and not taking Mental Health seriously. But you have outlined the rules very well here." He shook his head only once. "You are right that I do not have the legal papers just yet. But I can guarantee you, I will. As for Doctor Haruno......" He was saying.

"She ain't fucking going anywhere just because you said so, Danzo." Kankuro simply put it in his own dark way, his eyes bearing right into Danzo's eye. "She works for me, Temari and Sasori as the Psychiatrist here at the Suna City Asylum for the Criminally Insane. And you have no fucking proof that she's been intimate with a patient but the word of a murderer. Get. The. Fuck. Out. Now." He told him darkly.

Sakura almost shivered at Kankuro's words. She had never, ever heard him talk like that before and it kind of scared her. He almost sounded exactly like Gaara right at that moment. And judging by the look on Temari's face, she was just as stunned as she was. She obviously had never heard her younger brother talk like that before either.

To their satisfaction, and with only a dark look trained on Kankuro, Danzo nodded as he turned sharply, almost sticking his nose up in the air and stormed out of view. Sai and Hanataro, however, paused to look at the Sabaku Siblings and then over to Sakura. For an instant, the pink haired doctor could have sworn that Sai's lips curved upward briefly, almost threatening to smile before he turned and followed after his boss.

Hanataro, however, freely grinned and nodded his approval to Kankuro, who didn't return it. He actually looked highly amused that his boss had just gotten told off like that. Meeting Sakura's eyes, he smiled at her and nodded before he turned and hurried after Sai and Danzo.

That was when everyone in the room, minus a very surprised Hidan, broke into applause and both Sakura and Temari laughed as they grabbed Kankuro's shoulders and lightly shook him. "Oh, my GAWD, Kankuro! I swear, I did not know you had it in you to actually yell at Danzo Root." The blonde said laughing.

Looking almost relieved, Kankuro let out a long breath as he clapped a hand over his chest and hyperventilated a little. "Shit. That fucking scared the hell out of me. I hate it when he glares like that!" He groaned before looking at Sakura, grinning. "Sorry for grabbing your ass, Sakura. I had to make it look convincing." He told her.

"Yeah, right that you're sorry." Sakura said dryly. She knew if Gaara heard about this, he was probably going to flip a lid. But either way, she knew that she was in dip shit.

"Is that fucking Blondie really gay?" Hidan suddenly asked, breaking everyone out of their thoughts.

Once again, every thing went a little serious and Sakura looked very sternly at Hidan. She knew they needed to wrap this up and find Orochimaru before Danzo really did come back with the legal papers of shutting down the hospital. She wasn't sure when that would happen but if she was going to be fired, she wanted to make sure her patients were safe before she ended up leaving. "Hidan, where is the chamber that you've been doing your sacrifices in? Where is The Devil's Whisper?" She asked, sternly.

Everyone glanced at her in surprise but Hidan's face fell into a serious look again as he shook his head. "You do not want to go the fuck down there, Doctor Bitch. You go down there, and you might not come back up fucking alive." He warned her.

"Where is it?" Sakura asked just as serious as he put it.

Hidan didn't answer right off.

Instead, they were once again interrupted by, this time, Baki. He looked very alarmed and flustered about something and he was sweating a little as if he had just been running around. He entered the room very quickly, looking straight at Temari. "Temari! We've got a problem." He told her, quickly.

Throwing her hands up in the air, Temari rolled her eyes and let out a frustrated sigh as she turned to face him. "Of course! There are problems popping up everywhere now! First, Chiyo is murdered! Second, Orochimaru is a sick fuck lusting after my cousin! Third, Hidan is still a fucking lunatic murdering everyone! Fourth, Danzo is threatening to shut down the Asylum! What now?!" She demanded, in a high pitched voice.

Baki hesitated for only a moment before he sighed. "Sasori's missing." He told them, alarming everyone. He only nodded as he looked at the horror everyone's faces, his face still a little pale but serious. "I gave the orders for everyone to look for Orochimaru then went to find Sasori. I figured it wasn't the best idea if he was alone." He shook his head. "A guard told me that he went straight to his office and not after Orochimaru, himself as we all thought. It appears he was looking for something. Someone heard a crash in there and tried to go in to find out what was going on. But the door was locked. By the time I got there and unlocked the door, there was no one in there. But there was a struggle. His desk was knocked over and there were papers all over."

"SHIT!" Temari screamed now grabbing her blonde bangs. "Orochimaru must have snuck up on him! Sasori just had to be an idiot today and go off on his own, didn't he?! But how the hell did Orochimaru leave the office with Sasori without at least being seen struggling with him?!"

Baki shook his head as he took a deep breath. "There's a secret passage in there. It was in the wall behind Sasori's file cabinet. The one with the wheels." He shook his head again. "I tried to follow it but it just lead straight into some stairs. The corridor is completely behind the walls. There are no lights in there and the stairs lead straight down to the bottom floor of the Asylum." He told her.

Sakura gasped as it hit her. "The Isolation Floor! The entrance to the Devil's Whisper must be in the Morgue where Orochimaru works!" She said looking around at everyone.

Hidan snorted loudly, catching everyone's attention as he sank back down on the chair he was chained to. "Yeah. That's one of the fucking entrances. But I can guarantee you, it's going to be fucking locked now. More than likely, the fucking snake guy is going to know you sad fucks are looking for him." He remarked.

Looking at him impatiently, Sakura turned and gave him a square look, her hand resting on her waist. "All right, Hidan. Then where are the other entrances? How do we get down there?" She asked dryly with everyone else.

"Heh! Like I'm going to fucking tell you, bitch!" Hidan shot at her, now lounging. "I'm going to fucking prison, obviously. I've been caught. So I don't see what the fuck is in for me if I tell you jack shit. And by the time you actually find a way in The Devil's Whisper, little fucking red head is going to be fucking dead or gone with the sadist fuck, Orochimaru. Either way, _Sasori_ is fucked." He said with a sneer. "And I don't mean that lightly."

"Oh, god." Temari groaned as she turned away, running her hand through her blonde bangs. She, like everyone, knew that he literately meant it.

Sakura felt her jaw clench as she thought about the meaning behind Hidan's words. She knew that he was pointing out what Orochimaru wanted from Sasori. She could already imagine the sick Mortician sexually assaulting Sasori when he had the chance. It caused an infliction of pain with in her as she was reminded about when she was raped by Jirobo and then Sasuke. She saw the sick images flashing before her and remembered the pain she had gone through. She was going to be damned that that happened to Sasori.

So taking a deep breath, and looking very cold at Hidan, she folded her arms and shifted her weight. "Baki," She said, getting the security guard's attention. "Go get Deidara and Gaara, please. Bring them here." She looked at him when he didn't immediately move. "Please, Baki. Go get them."

A little confused, Baki slowly nodded but did as he was told, hurrying out of the room.

Hidan, however, definitely had his attention on her as he straightened. He didn't look like he liked where this was going. "What? You going to sick the fucking fag on me?" He asked, savagely. "Please, I'll rip out his god damned hair!"

"Yeah? As much as I hate violence, Hidan, and hate threatening my own patients, I'm going to make a leap here and I'm just going to sit here and watch what happens to you when Deidara finds out what happened to Sasori." Sakura said rather coldly. "And I'd really hate to see what Gaara's reaction would be if he found out that his cousin is in danger. He might not seem the type to fucking care, but I guarantee you, he will."

For once, Hidan looked nervous.

Not more than five minutes later, Baki returned with both of the patients. Deidara, of course, was putting on his cheerful act, so he obviously hadn't heard the news yet. He was grinning cheerful as he molded clay in his hands, rolling it around. Gaara, on the other hand, was definitely a little more alert than the blonde was. He looked directly at Sakura, almost asking her what the hell was going on.

"Doctor Haruno!" Deidara said cheerfully before faltering in his footsteps as he found Hidan chained to the chair. "Oooh. This looks kinky, un? This some new....."

"Deidara." Temari said, very seriously, looking at him. "It's time to drop the act. Everyone knows about you, thanks to fucking Danzo Root. Besides, Sasori's missing."

The look on Deidara's face was almost haunting to Sakura. His cheerful act immediately dropped and he looked at Temari in surprise. He let the words settle in for a moment before a new look slowly developed onto his face. His breathing picked up a little as he looked straight at Sakura, almost asking her if Temari was being serious.

Sakura almost felt tears in her eyes when she saw that look of desperation on his face. She knew this was going to be very hard for him. "A lot has happened this morning, Deidara. Chiyo Akasuna has been murdered by Orochimaru." She saw not only the blonde's shock but Gaara's. his eyes had widened in surprised as he looked at her. "I can't go into all the details because it'll take too long and we don't know how long Sasori has before something happens to him. But everything's unraveling too fast. Danzo Root, of the International Board of Mental Health wants to shut down the Suna Asylum because of her murder and that means sending everyone, all of the patients, you guys to a prison. Danzo also knows about you, Deidara. I don't know how exactly, but he does. Now, Kankuro has put up a really good fight, but it's only a matter of time before Danzo comes back with the papers to shut the Asylum down. By that time, we need to find Sasori and the secret chamber, the Devil's Whisper. I believe Orochimaru is the Devil and he's going to kill Sasori or do something worst if we don't get to him now." She told them both, watching as Deidara's face fell into a look of panic before it darkened. She knew he was going to start being serious about the entire situation. Gaara's face was even darker and his eyes were narrowed into slits. She gave him a look of pleading for his help, which she was glad that he gave a light nod in her direction.

"The problem is," Temari jumped in nodding her head towards Hidan. "Hidan's the one who's been killing everyone. He knows where the Devil's chamber or whatever is. But he won't tell us."

Both, Deidara and Gaara turned their dark gazes onto Jashin voodooist and everyone watched in satisfaction as he cringed into his chair, looking very taken back. He was rightfully nervous because how dangerous both men looked at him. And even more as they turned directly towards him, looking as if they were trying to kill him with their eyes.

"Where is Sasori, Hidan?" Gaara asked in a very dark tone, one that he had used many times before.

Hidan tried to sit up, looking braver than he actually felt. He was terrified, he would admit that. But these two couldn't afford to kill him if they wanted to find Sasori. "Fuck off, Sabaku." He shot at him.

Deidara moved a little too fast for anyone to actually register until he roughly grabbed Hidan by the throat and slammed him against the wall. There were several gasps or shouts in the room, one not being Gaara. He just watched with a dark look on his face as Deidara pinned the pale haired insane criminal against the wall, who still was handcuffed to the chair. So the position Hidan was in now was very painful. "Where is Sasori? Where is the chamber Doctor Haruno is looking for, un?" He asked dangerously.

"Deidara......" Sakura started but stopped when Gaara grabbed her shoulder, shaking his head.

"You want to find Sasori and the Devil's Whisper, Sakura, let him do this." Gaara said in a low voice.

Hidan choked a little by Deidara's grip on his throat but sneered at the man pinning him there. He looked highly amused but there was a hint of fear in his eyes. "What are you going to do, you fucking fag?! Huh?! Choke the fucking life out of me?! Do that and you will never find your fuck boy!" He shot at him.

Deidara's face only flickered a little with surprise before going back to looking highly dangerous. He wasn't in the mood to care if everyone figured out about him and Sasori. He had heard Sakura and Temari hissed quietly while everyone else frowned in bewilderment as they glanced at the two women. Instead, he reached down and grabbed Hidan's handcuffs and twisted it, earning a shout of pain. "If you don't fucking tell me where he is, I will break your fucking hands, un? Don't believe me, keep refusing to tell me, yeah?" The blonde said acidly.

"Fucking do it! I want to see you fucking do it!" Laughed Hidan, which faltered a little when he saw how serious Deidara was looking. It began hit him that this guy might actually do it. But it made him even more nervous when Gaara stepped up directly behind Deidara, meeting his violet eyes with his stormy sea colored ones.

"Tell us where the chamber is." Gaara growled, his head dipping down. The look on his face even scared Sakura a little. In truth, he was starting to look like a demon, himself.

Hidan sputtered a little on his cut off air before letting out a shaky breath and cursed quietly to himself. His eyes flickered back and forth from Deidara to Gaara and then back again. He didn't answer for a long minute before he swore again, only loudly this time. "Fuck! The fucking chamber is in the fucking catacombs, under the fucking building!" He shouted, which made Deidara loosen his grip a little on the handcuffs. "There are four fucking ways of getting in, but two are blocked off! They collapsed a long time ago! I've been using the fucking Morgue's entrance to move around! There's fucking secret passages through the fucking Asylum, all over the fucking place! That's how I've been fucking moving around and performing my fucking sacrifices!"

Sakura moved a little closer now, looking at him in her own serious way but trying to keep the excitement hidden. "Hidan, do you know who the Devil is?" She asked, carefully.

"Fuck no! No one knows who the fucking Devil is! He doesn't fucking show himself! He just fucking tells what to fucking do!" Hidan snarled at her, wincing when Deidara twisted the handcuffs again, only more tightly this time.

Still, nonetheless, his words surprised Sakura. She stepped back with alarm, trying to think. 'If Hidan doesn't know, and Orochimaru isn't the Devil, who the hell is it?' She thought before she turned quickly and looked around at everyone. "We have to find those entrances before Sasori ends up dead!" She said, to everyone.

Baki nodded as he shared a glance with Shikamaru before pulling out his radio. "I'll get everyone on it right now. We'll lock every patient up in their rooms and start searching for all of the secret passages. I think I'll head down to the files room and see if I can get the blue prints for the entire Asylum, see if we can make it easy for finding any secret rooms and passages." He told everyone before hurrying out quickly.

"In the mean time, I want him locked up in Isolation." Temari said, looking at Hidan in a dark way.

A few unknown security guards moved forward to take Hidan, but had to stop because Deidara still hadn't let him go. He was still glaring at the voodooist in a dark way, looking as if he wanted to kill him.

Sakura knew that he wanted to. She could see it in his eyes that he wanted to kill Hidan. "Deidara." She said calmly as she moved forward and gently placed a hand onto his shoulder, causing him to jerk a little and look over his shoulder at her. "Deidara, let him go. He'll be taken care of now. I promise. But right now, we have to find Sasori."

Deidara met her eyes for only a brief moment before looking at Hidan. He gave him a dangerous look before sharply twisting the handcuffs and earning a loud pop and a sharp scream of pain from Hidan. He had broken Hidan's wrist. "If Sasori dies, you will be my first murder attempt, un. Make no mistake about that." Deidara warned him acidly before letting him go and moving back so that the guards could take Hidan.

Hidan was still groaning in pain as the guards unruffled him, letting him grab his wrist, whereas Sakura moved forward, to look at it, only to get glared. "Don't fucking waste your fucking time on me, Haruno." He said painfully cold and surprising. "You don't have fucking time to fix this piece of shit." And without another glance at her, he went with the guards, leaving a rather surprised Sakura behind.

"He's right, Sakura." Temari said as she went over to her friend's side and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and lightly tugging her. "You better go get washed up though. You still have blood on you."

Blinking out of her surprise, Sakura looked down at her hands and grimaced. She had forgotten to wash her hands of Chiyo's blood. She had been so caught up in the moment that she had forgotten about washing it all off. "Oh, shit." She looked up at Gaara when he moved forward, looking at her with concern but she just smiled and shook her head. "It's okay. It's not mine. It's Chiyo's. There was blood all over her desk and the papers I looked through." She reassured him.

"Don't go by yourself." Gaara simply said as he nodded only once.

Sakura smiled at him as she nodded and looked at Temari. She didn't need to ask her friend if she would go with her for the blonde was already steering her towards the door. She, however, paused to look over her shoulder at both Gaara and Deidara before glancing at the hesitant guards. "Let them help, please. Kakashi," She turned her eyes onto him next. "I don't feel comfortable about leaving Tobi unguarded. Can you.....?" She was asking.

"Already on it." Kakashi said immediately as he was quickly out of the room.

"As for the rest of us, let's start searching for any secret doors or passages. The Morgue especially. We'll see if we can find the passage into the so called catacombs." Kankuro said, glancing over at his younger brother. "Gaara, you with me?"

Gaara was still staring directly at Sakura, watching her closely. His face was rather passive and hard to read for anyone looking at him but deep within, he sorely wanted to just reach out and touch her. He wanted to pull her close and meet her lips with his own. Just being near her was setting the fire within his stomach and he could feel a gentle throb in his loins. But now was not the time for his lust. Things were just too serious for that. Instead, he tore his eyes away from Sakura and gave his brother a nod. "Let's go." He spoke in a low, dangerous tone.

Sakura just nodded as turned with Temari and walked with her out into the hall. Together, they went straight to the ladies room, where the pink haired doctor started to wash all the blood off of her.

"Something still doesn't make very much sense to me." Temari spoke up, her arms folded across her chest.

"Hmm? What?" Sakura asked.

Temari just shook her head as she looked off with a deep frown on her face. She looked like she was thinking too hard and it was starting to hurt. "Who was Hidan talking about? He made it sound like Orochimaru was just a minion or something. And....why was Kabuto never mentioned? He works for Orochimaru. So he must have known something." She told Sakura.

Sakura frowned as she thought about the gray haired assistant. She hadn't thought about him but now that she did, she was sure that he must have something to do with this too. But he wasn't mentioned by Hidan. So there could have been a possibility that.....Her eyes snapped open. "Oh, god." She gasped clapping her now clean and dried hand over her mouth. "Oh my god! Kabuto! We forgot about Kabuto!"

"What?" Temari asked, now frowning in surprise.

Shaking her head, Sakura turned fully towards Temari, giving her a wide eyed look. "Temari, Orochimaru doesn't have any silver about him, unless he was using a blade. Hidan doesn't make straight cuts, he makes a mess out of it! And other night while Gaara and I were together and Tobi was attacked, the lights went out! Shikamaru simply told us that there was no way that Orochimaru could have turned off the lights from the first floor and then ran all the way to Tobi's room to cut his eye out by himself! I figured it out! Orochimaru is the Devil and Kabuto's helping him! It must have been Kabuto who Tobi saw that night! Not Hidan!" She nearly shouted.

Temari swore loudly as she dropped her arms and looked towards the door of the restroom. "Shit. And we dismissed Kabuto from the Asylum. He was smiling when he left, wasn't he?" She asked, now grinding her teeth and making her way towards the door.

"Temari." Sakura said, almost too nervously, her heart nearly stopping. "What if Kabuto never left the Asylum? Did anyone actually see him leave?"

There was a tense moment as both women stared at one another with almost fear in their eyes before the blonde let out a huge sigh and shook her head. "You know, I don't think anyone did see him leave. We expected him to just leave on his own." She swore before turning sharply and hurrying towards the door. "Come on! We have to warn everyone that Kabuto might still be in the building!" She told her friend and employee.

Sakura nodded as she quickly turned off the sink's faucet and hurried after Temari. Her nerves were definitely getting frayed. She felt like she wouldn't be able to relax for a while now. There was no without a doubt that Kabuto knew about her and Gaara. After all the times he had sneered at her for turning him down for a date and then end up getting with Gaara, she knew that he knew. He had to.

Temari and Sakura ended up having to go down to the first floor to find Baki. He was checking to make sure that all of the patients were locked up and sedated. They did not want any of them to be alert during this time of crisis.

As Temari picked up her pace to get over to Baki, Sakura faltered in her step when she noticed something on the floor. She frowned when she saw specs of red on the tiles, something that looked like blood. Frowning even deeper, she bent down, leaning against the wall and looked closer at it. There were only a few drops and they seemed to trail from the stairwell, right to the wall she was leaning against. They stopped there. "What....." She muttered as she bent down, still leaning against the wall to reach down and touch the red drops. It was thick and it felt like blood. So someone was bleeding. She looked around at everyone in the hall and opened her mouth to shout to someone, to ask them if someone was hurt.

It was right at that moment there was a low click, the wall seemed to swing inward. Or at least, spin. Either way, Sakura had been leaning against it at the time and she gasped sharply when she fell forward through the secret passage. No. Not secret passage.

Secret stairwell.

Gasping, Sakura saw the stairs as she tried to catch herself, trying to back up to avoid falling down them, only to hit the hidden spinning door and caused it to shut with a loud click. "What.....!" she yelped as she turned with a jerk, only to lose her footing on the first step. She slipped and came down hard on the stairs. And unluckily, gravity was against her as she began to fall down what felt like stone steps. She let out a shriek of pain as she hit a few stairs too hard before coming to a complete stop at a flat surface.

Laying there for a long moment, Sakura gasped for the air that had been knocked from her lungs after falling down the stairs. She winced as she tried to sit up against the narrow wall, nearly screaming in pain as she felt a sharp jolt in her leg. She had to bite her lip to keep herself from screaming. It felt it was broken.

"God." Sakura gasped as she reached down, pulling her skirt up so she could run her hand along her leg to find out where the most pain was. She found it at her ankle. It wasn't broken as she thought but it was dislocated. She must have rolled it as she fell down the stairs. It was a miracle that it didn't break while falling down what she believed to be at least ten stairs. The stairwell felt very narrow, as if it was going straight down but it was really dark to tell. There were no lights in this stairwell so she was left completely in the dark.

Still, she needed to do something about her ankle. Bracing herself against the wall and using the other foot to push herself against the wall and the stairs facing her, she clenched her mouth tightly shut as she grabbed her foot and leg and gave it a jerk.

There was a loud crack in her ankle, following a sharp, angry pain shooting up her leg. Sakura screamed within her closed mouth, while tears of pain flooded her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. She let out a ragged cry, but kept it as quiet as she could as she just sat there in the dark stair well, listening to herself and what other sounds there could be. She had to register what just happened and how she got into the stair well in the first place.

For a long moment she sat there, against the cold stone wall, remembering exactly how she fell into the stair well. She had found blood on the floor and had been leaning against the wall. She had somehow triggered something to open the secret door.

Mustering up all the strength she could, Sakura tried to pull herself to her feet, without crying out in pain. Her ankle still hurt really badly from popping it back into place. She tried to feel her way around on the stairs and eventually figured out which stairs went up and which ones went down. The landing she had been on was pretty small. It must have only been three feet apart from wall to stairs. She tried going up the stairs until she found the wall again. She couldn't hear anything from on the other side but tried to knock and bang on it a few times, hoping someone would hear. She ran her hands along the door, trying to find some kind of knob or switch but nothing.

'How did I open it then?' Sakura thought painfully to herself. She couldn't figure it out. There must have been a button then, she figured and tried to run her hands along the walls. She still couldn't find anything. She looked for about five minutes before she turned and felt her way back down the stairs, wincing at her ankle's pain. 'There has to be another way out.' She thought.

It took a while to get down the stairs in the dark though. Sakura was whimpering a little in fear and pain as she continued downward. Her sight in the darkness was becoming clearer though as she kept going down the long stairs. She came to another floor, but there was nothing but a wall there and more stairs.

What surprised Sakura more was just down the stairs, she could see light. It was very dim but it was light. She felt her heart pace pick up a little with hope.

Carefully and quietly, she hurried down the stairs until she came to a long corridor. There were windows or openings, only a long line of electric lines stringed up along the stone walls. It looked like a basement or a dungeon. She was starting feel uneasy again, especially with a very cold breeze blowing around her. But where there was a breeze, there had to be an exit so she tried to follow it.

Along the way, she heard something. There was an eerie sound traveling through the darkness. She thought she could hear whispers in the darkness and a distant, but muffled scream. It was a sound that sent chills through her bones and making her tense up. She didn't like it. It reminded her of something in a horror movie just when something bad was going to happen. This was not where she wanted to be.

There came another quiet scream from somewhere in the darkness, making Sakura frown with a hint of fear. She felt her breathing picking up as she crept along the wall, trying to follow the sounds. She just hoped it was her imagination though.

Along the screams came a shout, making Sakura jump a little but picking up her pace. That was definitely not her imagination. She could hear someone yelling and then an eerie laugh. The shouts sounded oddly like Sasori. She could have sworn it was him. But if it was, that meant Orochimaru was down there too. Sakura picked up her pace, trying very careful not to make too much sound. She suddenly stopped when she realized her shoes were squeaking a little. She winced only once before bending down and pulling her shoes off. She didn't want to walk around barefoot but she couldn't attract any unwanted attention to her.

The shouts and screams grew louder as she trailed into the darkened end of the corridor, where the lights didn't seem to meet. She hesitated as she came towards the end of the lights but kept on going. It was still light enough for her to see a little but not much.

However, she saw a light up ahead, coming from an open room up ahead. And judging by the shouts and screams, and the eerie laugh, that was the room where the noises were coming from. She quickly crept along the wall, through the new darkness until she reached the room and peered carefully in.

She had to stop herself from gasping.

The room was more like a chamber. It was a decent size, probably as big as her office. There were no windows and it would have been very dark if not for several thick, blood-red candles lying every where on carved stone ledges and dug out stone shelves. There were some cobwebs near the ceiling, hanging in low strings and clusters. There was a medium sized metal table in the room where there were tools and knives lay out. Some of the knives were still bloody, never cleaned after being used.

In the middle of the chamber like room, there was a stone table. It was large and definitely old. But it was stained with blood. There were shackles connected to each end of the table and that was where a naked Sasori was, struggling against his restraints with sweat coating his entire body. He had a cut along his cheek, and it was bleeding. Orochimaru was standing right next to the table, grinning down at a terrified looking Sasori, looking his naked form over and licking his disgusting lips. His long black hair was down, spilling around his bare shoulders, for he had no shirt on. He wore only his black slacks and even they were open a little, as if suggesting something. It made Sakura grimace to image what he had in mind.

Standing not too far away from her, yet his back was to her was Kabuto. So her and Temari's suspicions had been right. Kabuto was involved in this terrible sick crime. He had his arms folded across his chest, just watching with a sly smile on his face as Orochimaru seemed to be examining Sasori.

And there he was, Sasuke. Sasuke was there too, sitting on a stone ledge, one leg pressed up against his chest as he watched with a disgusted look on his face. He was obviously not enjoying the show. He was wearing the same outfit he had just the night before.

"Orochimaru.....you mother fucker!" Sasori hissed at the pale Mortician as he tugged his restraints sharply, trying to yank his arms free. "You fucking killed my grandmother!"

Orochimaru sneered at Sasori before turning away and picking up a cleaned knife. Its silver blade shimmered with the candle lights hitting it and even caught Sakura's reflection, making her draw back a little. But the Mortician didn't seem to have noticed. He just took the knife and held it over one of the candles, letting the fire heat up the metal. "I did, my dear boy. You see, Chiyo was just getting in between us. She tried to release me from the Asylum and I'm afraid that just won't do." He turned his attention back onto Sasori, who was glaring hatefully up at him. "I have been waiting for nearly five years for this moment, my dear Sasori. Ever since we last departed, I've been thinking a lot about you. Our encounters at the Academy were so delightful that I've always dreamed about what I would do if I saw you again. Two years later, you came here to work for your dear _Granny_." He sneered at the word. "How I've missed you over those years, Sasori. But it hurt me that you refused me."

Sasori growled at him but watched with fear in his eyes as he heated up the knife. He trembled a little on the table, watching. "I'll kill you, Orochimaru. I swear I will kill you." He snarled at the pale man.

The Mortician just chuckled and shook his head as he turned his eyes back onto the hot blade. He kept it there, letting it grow hotter and hotter. "That's not very nice to say, my dear. You are not in the position of threatening me." He finally pulled the knife away from the flame, which seemed to be glowing hot red. "A knife like this, when heated to unimaginable temperatures, it can cut through skin like butter. How I would love to use this against that pathetic lover of yours."

Fear flickered in Sasori's eyes and he shook his head, violently. "Le-Leave Deidara alone! He's got nothing to do with this!" He shouted.

"Oh, he's got everything to do with this, my Sasori." Orochimaru sneered as he moved closer to Sasori again. He bent over, looking directly into his terrified eyes. He reached out and gently touched the side of his face, making Sasori try and jerk away but he kept running his hand along his cheek to his neck and down to his chest. "That boy has meddled with our affairs, Sasori. He's touched what is not his."

"I'm not yours!" Sasori growled trying again to jerk away from Orochimaru's caressing hands. He trembled again with fear as he thrashed against the shackles.

But Orochimaru paid him no mind as he ran his cold hand along Sasori's chest to his thigh. Reaching that area, Sasori really began to thrash, trying to yank away from him. The sick Mortician still didn't seem to care. Instead, he brought the knife close to Sasori's thrashing legs and pressed the hot metal against his shin.

Sasori let out a scream of pain as he stopped thrashing and yet tried to jerk his leg out of the knife's reach. It didn't help when Orochimaru pressed the knife even deeper into his skin until it cut, letting blood start spilling past the hot metal.

In the hall, Sakura had pulled back before she even saw what Orochimaru did, not wanting to see what was happening. When Sasori screamed, quickly covered her ears and tried to block out the sounds of his screams. She couldn't believe that no one could hear this up in the Asylum! It must have been the thick stone walls, muffling all the noises. She wanted nothing more to just scream herself. Scream for help for her and Sasori. She couldn't bear hearing Sasori scream like that. She felt tears spilling over her cheeks as she listened to Sasori scream even louder as Orochimaru tortured him.

'I can't just listen to this!' Sakura though before turning a little to look into the room again.

Orochimaru had pulled the knife away from Sasori's now bleeding leg, laughing quietly as he went back to caressing the red head's body, even letting his fingers brush past his manhood. Sasori had stiffened when he felt the feathery touch, looking at him with a pained glare. The Mortician just grinned sickly at him before reaching down and lightly touching him again.

Sasori let out a loud shout of anger and fear as he tried to jerk away from Orochimaru's sick touch. Tears mixed with sweat as he yanked and pulled at his restraints but with no luck of breaking free.

"Oh, my poor, poor Sasori. Maybe I should take some of the pain away. And give you a little pleasure." Orochimaru cooed as he wrapped his hand around Sasori, which earned him another shout of rage and fear. "Oh, you don't like this? Maybe you will like this." He said in his sick soothingly way before he slowly began to run his hand up and down.

"Stop it!! Get your fucking hand off of me!" Sasori shouted but tightly closed his eyes. But Orochimaru just chuckled as he tightened his grip on Sasori's shaft and pumped faster. He smirked sickly when his victim shivered and let out a low whimper of fear and pleasure. "St-stop....."

A disgusted sound came from Sasuke as he turned his head away, not wanting to watch this anymore. He was disgusted by Orochimaru's reactions and the fact that Kabuto was starting to look rather lusty as he watched his boss molest Sasori Akasuna. "God. I can't believe he's making me stay down here with you two sick fucks." He growled as he closed his eyes bitterly.

Kabuto looked over at the raven haired young man and smirked as he dropped his arms and moved over towards him a little. "Aww. What's wrong, Sasuke? Feeling a little sexual tension since the night you fucked that pink haired bitch? I'll admit it, I wanted a piece of her, myself. She is very beautiful."

Sasuke shot the assistant a dangerous look as he straightened his leg a little, looking ready to kick out violently at Kabuto. "Shut the fuck up, Kabuto! I told you, if you ever fucking touch Sakura, I will fucking kill you myself! She is mine! No one is to fucking touch her but me!" He gave Kabuto a darker look when he opened his mouth to say something. "That fucking red head, Sabaku will fucking die for touching her when I get the chance to fucking kill him! Make note of that! But I'm warning you! Touch Sakura, I will fucking slit your throat." He growled.

"That's not what the He said this morning when your little lovely cherry blossom showed up at the Asylum." chuckled Orochimaru as he stopped touching Sasori, smirking at the raven haired man across the room, earning a deadly look from him.

"Le-leave.....Sakura al-alone......" hissed Sasori as he tried to glare up at them all around him.

Orochimaru sneered as he reached up and cupped Sasori's face with both hands as he put the knife down next to him. He began caressing the red head's face, looking at him with lust. "Oh, don't be afraid for the foolish pink haired bitch, Sasori. She's the least of our worries right now." He hissed to him.

At that time, Sakura had been looking for anything that could serve as a weapon. She couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't watch Orochimaru touching Sasori or hearing Sasuke's stupid possessive remarks about her. She didn't belong to anyone! Not even to Gaara! She belonged to herself! It should have been up to her who she belonged to, not her fucking ex-boyfriend's!

She looked for any clubs or anything that she could use to hit the three men and rescue Sasori, only to freeze. There was a gun sitting not more than two feet away from her on one of the stone ledges. She didn't know too much about guns and had never really used one before. But she had seen a lot of movies and had seen Kakashi carry one. This one looked almost like his. It was almost the same exact gun that he carried. She was sure it was Sasuke's. It could have been. She had seen it before, now that she thought about it. It had to be his.

Carefully glancing at the three villains in the room, making sure they couldn't see her, Sakura took the chance to creeping her arm around the corner, watching Orochimaru, Kabuto and Sasuke as they glared at one another, having their own little conversation.

It was Sasori's eyes that she caught, surprising him. He saw movement and looked over at the doorway only to freeze when he saw that it was her. Sakura held up a finger to her mouth, telling him to not alert the three men, which he slowly nodded at as he watched her creep for the gun.

With her fingers only inches away from the gun now, it was at that precise moment that Kabuto decided to turn around, annoyed and agitated with Sasuke Uchiha. He was rolling his eyes as he turned around to return to the exact spot he had been standing at and he saw Sakura. "What.....?!" He blurted out, catching Orochimaru's and Sasuke's attention. "Doctor Haruno?!"

Sakura's head came up with a jerk as she looked wide eyed at him. She was frozen only for a second before she lashed out to grab the gun. She swore loudly as her fingers only pushed it slightly away from her as she fumbled for it but it was too late. Kabuto bolted forward and swept his hand across the stone, knocking the gun to the floor. He lashed out and caught Sakura's wrist, yanking her into the room and trying to pin her against the wall. She yelped in surprise and groaned as her back made contact with the wall sharply. "Shit! Get off of me, you suck bastard!" She yelled at him as she began to fight against him.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Orochimaru asked, chuckling as he straightened.

"Sakura!" Sasuke shouted now throwing his feet to the ground and standing up. He even started to move forward to help her but stopped when Orochimaru reached over Sasori and grabbed his arm, shaking his head. He wretched free though, glaring at him.

Kabuto smirked as he wrestled with Sakura, grabbing her wrists and trying to pin them above her head, pressing his body against hers to pin her. He was obviously enjoying himself. "Well, Sakura. We were just talking about you." He said, almost in a sick way.

Sakura met his dark eyes with her furious green ones as she stopped struggling for one moment. She looked him over quickly, noting how he was positioned before she gave him an acid like smile. "I know. I heard you. And I'll be frank, as if I would even let you fuck me, you sicko." She said darkly before bringing her knee sharply up right in between his legs.

There was a choked cry from Kabuto as his eyes snapped wide open and he released Sakura as he dropped like a rock, clutching his crushed groins. He began to convulse violently but Sakura paid no attention to him at all as she shoved him hard away from her. She dove for the gun, sitting on the floor, noting that Sasuke was moving forward to grab it as she was. But she beat him to it. She scooped it up, fumbling as she righted it in her hand before pointing at him. "Stay away from me!" She demanded, her eyes flashing angrily, yet with fear. She had never used a gun before and she wasn't sure if she could use it on anyone. But she sure hoped that Sasuke took her bluff.

As she had hoped, Sasuke stopped moving forward and stepped back, raising his hands leveled with his head. He was eyeing the gun uneasily but would glance up at her. "Sakura, don't be stupid. You've never used a gun in your life." He said, between his teeth.

"Yeah?! Well, there's a first for everything, Sasuke!" Sakura said harshly before backing away a little from him and Kabuto. She turned the gun sharply, aiming at Orochimaru next, who did not look pleased with the situation at all. He was watching her with a dark expression on his face as he stayed right next to Sasori. "Get away from him, now! Get away from Sasori, Orochimaru!"

"Don't be a fool, Doctor Haruno." Orochimaru said, his lips curving upward only a little. "Do you even know how to use that?"

There was a loud crack of thunder within the room, making everyone wince as the gun went off, echoing in the room. Even Sakura winced as soon as she fired the gun, shooting one of the candles and causing it to explode. She definitely did not like that sound. But as soon as she recovered from the loud bang, she gave Orochimaru a dark look again. "I think I figure out how it works." She quickly swung the gun back around, aiming it at Sasuke when he inched forward. Of course, he backed up again when the gun was trained on him again, raising his hands. "Don't, Sasuke!" She growled before turning her eyes over to Orochimaru. "Are you going to do what I say, Orochimaru or do you want me to shoot you?"

Orochimaru's eyes narrowed slightly before he took a step back away from Sasori, his own hands raising to his head level. "What do you think you will do, Doctor Haruno? How do you think you will escape with Sasori? These catacombs are nearly a mile wide. They twist and turn throughout the length of the Suna Asylum compound. Without a map, you will never find your way out. And as it is, I have spent much time exploring the catacombs. I have it memorized and I know where every passage and door is located. How do you think you can get out without running into one of us?" He asked, calmly.

Sakura gave him a nasty look as she moved a little closer to the table and examined the shackles. She almost smirked when she saw that they were simple to even unlock. With one hand, she grabbed the shackles and unlocked them, freeing Sasori's legs. "I will go back the way I just came in. And I'm taking Sasori with me, Orochimaru. I know my way back." She told him. Though she wasn't entire sure if that was true.

"Sakura, don't. These catacombs are so easy to get lost in." Sasuke told her, not moving again.

Giving him a dark look, Sakura motioned for him to move closer to the head of Sasori. "Sasuke, please undo Sasori's hands." She told him sternly.

There was a slight pause as Sasuke stared at her. He didn't move for a moment before glancing at Sasori then back at her, still not moving to do as she asked. "Sakura...." He was saying.

Sakura glared at him, her eyes flashing a little with anger. But as soon as she looked at him angrily, the look melted into a look of sympathy. She shook her head as she motioned him over to Sasori again. "Sasuke, please. You are not a killer. You may have put me through a lot of hell but you do have some goodness in your heart. I know you do. I know about what happened between you and Itachi." She quickly shook her head as Sasuke's face darkened at his brother's name, her eyes tickling a little with tears. "Itachi murdered your father because he thought he raped you, Sasuke!"

Sasuke's eyes lit up in surprise, looking very taken aback.

Shaking her head again, Sakura let her eyes flicker over to Orochimaru, making sure he wasn't moving again. He hadn't moved an inch but watched her through a dull gaze. He was surely not interested in her slight emotional breakdown. "Sasuke, Itachi was trying to save you from the man who raped me when I was 9 years old. I know it all now. My father, Hanataro showed up just the other day. He's going to testify the truth because the man who hurt you and me was once his best friend. I know why you were so cruel to me. Itachi did what he had to do to protect you. And you hate him for it." She shook her head a fourth time. "Now, _please!_ Undo Sasori's restraints." She told him, her voice hardening again.

"You forgot one very important detail, Sakura." Orochimaru said, now smirking as if he found something very amusing.

Shooting him a dark look, Sakura turned the gun onto him next. "Yeah? What's that, Orochimaru?" She demanded. She did not want to deal with him right now. She just wanted to get Sasori and get out of there. She had to take care of the deep cut on his leg before it got infected with this atmosphere.

Orochimaru just smirked coldly at her as he dropped his hands at his sides, no longer seeming to care if she had a gun. "You forgot about Kabuto." He told her.

It took only a second to think of what he meant before Sakura's eyes widened. She saw Sasori's own eyes widened as he looked past her at something behind her. Swearing, she turned sharply to look at Kabuto, forgetting about him for a moment, only to have him grab her arms roughly and yank it upward. The gun went off again but the loud crack was the least of her worries. She cried out in pain as the gray haired assistant grabbed the gun, still holding it upward before pressing a small button near the trigger, obviously the safety button. Sakura struggled to wretch the gun free from him while attempting to kick him again only missing as he shoved her hard against the table where Sasori was laid out. She let out a scream of rage and fear as she felt Kabuto's hand cover hers, grabbing her thumb and yanking it backward. There was a sharp snap as her thumb broke, causing her to scream in pain.

"Kabuto! What did I tell you about hurting her?!" Sasuke yelled angrily as he started forward.

Kabuto ignored him as he yanked the gun free from Sakura's grip and shoved away from her now turning the gun onto Sasuke, giving him a deadly look. He even had the chance to quickly take the safety off, looking at him threateningly. "Back off, Uchiha!" He snarled. "I will have no problem with shooting you! Or her!" He snapped, pointing the gun at Sakura, making her cringe against the table.

Sasuke glared hatefully but did as he was told, moving back a few steps. He glared at him for a moment before letting his dark eyes flicker over to Sakura, looking at her with concern. She was curled against the table, clutching her broken thumb with tears of pain rolling down her cheeks.

"Now, now, Kabuto. We don't want to have any accidents happening, now do we?" came a very familiar voice from the darkness of the corridor. That voice, however, gave Sakura at least a little hope as she looked up with wide eyes to see Him standing in the hall, looking around the dark room at everyone and very serious. "Lower the gun, Kabuto. We don't want any trouble, now do we?" Madara Uchiha said as he stepped into the chamber, looking around the room at everyone, but letting his dark eyes flicker to Sakura with only a little concern for her.


	20. Chapter 20

**Title:** The Devil's Whisper

**Short Summary:** Sakura is a Psychiatrist for a mental hospital for the Konoha Hospital who then gets moved to her dream job in the Suna Hospital for the Criminally Insane to take care of a very dangerous patient named Gaara. WARNING! Sasuke bashing!!

**Pairings:** Sakura/Sasuke (minor), Sakura/Gaara

**Warning: Story contains implied and/ or scenes of: **major language, torture, rape, angst, adult scenes, violence and probably more…

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto, or any of its characters. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

**Chapter XX**

"Madara!" Sakura cried out, painfully but attempting to smile at him. She grabbed the edge of the table and tried to stand up, wincing as her ankle throbbed just as painfully as her new broken thumb. She was just so happy to see the doctor. She wondered who would be right behind him, coming to her and Sasori's rescue.

Madara merely glanced Sakura, and even managed a gentle smile of his own as he gave her a nod. "Sakura, are you all right?" He asked, quietly.

Sakura winced as she leaned against the table, still clutching her thumb. She could only manage to shake her head. "I dislocated my ankle earlier when I fell down some secret stairwell but I set it back. Kabuto," She shot the gray haired man who looked just as dangerously back at her but kept the gun trained on her. "He just broke my hand." Sakura finished, choking a little in pain.

Sasori tugged at his restraints, now looking very frantic. "Madara! Get us the hell out of here!" He told him, shooting Orochimaru a dark look who decided to move close to him again.

Madara looked at Sasori, took in his appearance before looking at Orochimaru with disgust and shaking his head. He definitely didn't look pleased. "Orochimaru, you really fucked up the plan. I told you don't let your lust for Akasuna get in the way." He told him before shooting Kabuto a look. "And I told you not to let him in. I knew he would fuck up."

Sakura and Sasori both looked as if they just were slugged in the stomach, knocking all of the air out of their lungs. They surely didn't hear right, did they? Sakura let out a quiet choke as she looked at Madara with disbelief. "Ma-Madara.......what's going on? Didn't....didn't you come down to...." She whimpered.

"He didn't come to save you, Sakura." Sasuke said in a dark tone, giving Madara an equally dark look. "He's the Devil. He wants to kill you for intervening with his plans."

"Oh, god....." Sakura choked out as she cringed against the table looking at the serious look on Madara's face. She had tears trailing down her cheeks as she looked painfully at the doctor's face. She had truly believed that he had been her friend. But all this time, he was the killer. "Madara....please. It's not true. Please don't let it be true." She begged.

Madara turned his dark eyes onto Sakura again, giving her a very serious look before he reached over and yanked the gun away from Kabuto who growled at him but didn't fight to take it back. He just looked right into Sakura's terrified eyes before shaking his head. "This is why I wanted you to leave before, Sakura. Your part in my plan was over. After you were raped by Sasuke, I had hoped that you would have the brain to leave Suna Asylum. But you didn't. You just stayed and you kept on getting in my way. And then you decided to fuck Gaara Sabaku." He said, giving her a tight smile when she looked stunned.

And she was. Sakura was stunned that he had known. "But....how....?" She was asking.

The Head Doctor tipped his head towards Sasuke. "It left him pretty pissed. There's a hidden mirror in your office, Sakura. It's just like the ones in all of the visiting rooms. Sasuke watched the entire thing. And he almost ran in there to kill Gaara and possibly you. He complained to me after I returned to the hospital, after Obito's attack. Speaking of which," He paused to turn towards Kabuto, giving him a deadly look before he raised the gun and fired.

There was a loud crack from the gun and the bullet hit Kabuto in the chest, sending him staggering back with a loud cry of shock and pain. He slapped a hand over the bullet wound, letting his blood flow freely through his fingers before he tripped and fell to the ground. "Ma-Madara!" Kabuto choked as blood even began to fill his mouth and spill down from the corners. "Wh.....why.....?"

"Why fucking cut you out, Kabuto?" Madara asked very calmly as he stood over him, giving him a deadly look. "I told you to not touch Obito. I warned you and Orochimaru that if you were going to go around and play _Devil Kills_ to scare the living hell out Sakura Haruno, it was not to be her patient, Obito to be the victim. I warned you that if you did anything to him without my saying so, I would kill you. Obito was mine to kill. Not yours, you piece of shit." He hissed angrily before raising the gun and shooting Kabuto right between the eyes.

Kabuto barely had time to scream before his brains exploded out of the back of his head. A blood splatter hit the ground and nearly hit Sasuke's feet if he hadn't quickly moved away, while looking at Madara with his own shock.

Sakura on the other hand had screamed into her hurt hands as she closed her eyes tightly so she couldn't see what just happened to the assistant. However, when she opened her eyes, she looked like she was going to be sick. So she looked over at Orochimaru to see what his reaction was. And instead of looking alarmed, who looked annoyed as he rolled his eyes and turned them onto Madara. "That was a little excessive, don't you think, Madara?" He asked, dully. The look that Madara gave him next shut him up really fast and backed away a step.

Trembling, Sakura moved around the corner of the table so that she could be right by Sasori's side, slowly moving up to where his hands were. She froze when Madara looked at her next, but she rest her hand onto Sasori's arm, who also was staring at him with unease. "Wh-Why, Ma-Madara? Why are you.....?"

"Why am I the Devil?" Madara asked, as he lowered his hand with the gun, not pointing it at anyone again. He didn't need to. His dark eyes were enough to freeze anyone in their footsteps. He shook his head as he kept his eyes trained on Sakura, while Sasuke was glancing at her with concern. "Sakura, I'm the Devil because I'm the most dangerous person in this hospital. Not your boyfriend. You really did mess up my plans that dealt with Gaara." He told her.

Sakura shook her head as she clutched onto Sasori, tears freely trailing down her cheeks. "No. Not that. Why are you trying to kill Tobi? You just said that you were to kill him. Not Kabuto. Wh-Why? Isn't he your brother?" She asked, choking a little.

Madara let out an impatient sound as he rolled his eyes and looked away from her for a brief moment before shaking his head. He turned his dark gaze back onto her. "I guess this is the part where I spill out my entire plan. I really shouldn't because after I tell you my plans, something goes wrong and I end up dead or arrested." He narrowed his eyes but shook his head again. "But I guess if I am going to kill you, I guess you do have a right to know. Obito Uchiha, Sakura, is not my brother. He's just a mistake that my father made when he fucked another woman behind my mother's back. He and Fugaku. I didn't find out about them until my mother passed away and he went and married the whore that gave birth to those two. I was nine years old when they came along. A seven year old and a two year old mistake." He snorted bitterly as he narrowed his dark eyes. "My younger brother, my real younger brother, Izuna loved those two. In a way, he betrayed me by playing with those two. I didn't do anything to him for a long time. But I did convince him to join me in creating my own little empire, seeing that my father cared more about Fugaku and Obito than he did for his own sons. I started up an underground business. A criminal organization, of course. But the Black Market was where the real money comes in."

"You're a criminal?" Sakura asked, in bewilderment.

Madara smirked at her but shook his head. "A Criminal Overlord, Sakura. I created one of the largest criminal organizations there is in the black market. We steal, we kill, we blackmail. In fact, we blackmail a lot. I made most of my money on my organization. Of course, I pretended to be a good little boy, studying the medical field, being a doctor. Myself being a doctor sure gave me a good reputation. Just like Orochimaru, over there." He nodded to the Mortician. "In fact, he's an Overlord over his own little organization. But in a way, we're working together."

"You should probably not tell her everything, Madara." Orochimaru said, his eyes lazily gazing at the other doctor.

But Madara just shook his head as he glanced at him, darkly. "She isn't going to be a problem, Orochimaru. No one knows where she is. Everyone is still trying to look for her in the hospital." He turned his dark eyes back onto Sakura. "As it is, when I began my little organization, I made a deal with someone, here, in Suna. Someone who decided backstab me and Orochimaru. That's why we arranged for him to be murdered." His eyes flickered over to Sasori, who's eyes grew wide. "That's right, Sasori. You're dear old papa. Akito Akasuna was a good man but he was in a lot of debt. He hid it from your mother and you because he was ashamed that he was making dealings with a criminal. He was getting all of his money off of me, working for me for some time. His brother found out and forced him to back out from a deal that killed Izuna." He said in an acid like tone. "A drug deal that he was suppose to take care of. But Yondaime forced Akito to not go. He didn't know who Akito was working for, and that was his biggest mistake. But because Akito didn't do what he was suppose to do, my younger brother was killed. Oh, was I pissed off."

"But....it wasn't my father's fault." Sasori said, his voice laced with rage as he glared at Madara. "You murdered him, but it wasn't his fault!"

"Sasori, when it comes to criminal dealings, there is not 'It wasn't his fault'. You make you a deal, you do the deal. Or you pay the consequences. He was just lucky enough that I killed him and your mother and not you. He made me swear not to touch you. I lied, of course. I made a deal with Orochimaru to track you to kill you." Madara said darkly before shooting the pale doctor a look. "Of course, when you found you at the Medic Academy, he couldn't do it because he was attracted to you."

Orochimaru merely shrugged as he put a less than innocent smile on his face before looking fondly at Sasori, who glared at him. "I couldn't hurt my dear little Sasori." He moved forward and gently caressed Sasori's face, making him try to jerk away. "He was just too beautiful to harm."

Of course, Sakura slapping his hand away made him glare at her. She didn't seem to care as she moved around and placed an arm between him and Sasori, protecting her colleague from him. She flinched a little when he raised a hand to slap her but he didn't hit her because Sasuke was in between them, shoving him back and glaring at him and surprising her. "Sasuke....."

"Orochimaru, cool it." Madara said coldly before looking back at Sakura as she stared at Sasuke's back with shock. "Let's calm down and continue the explanation. Or unless, you want to end it now." He said, raising the gun.

"No." Sakura said quickly, drawing back away from Sasuke and unbinding Sasori quickly, much to Orochimaru's protest. She helped the red head climb off the table and they both drew back away from all three villains, clutching onto each other's arms. "P-please continue." Sakura told Madara. In truth, she was hoping she could stall him long enough to figure out a way to escape. It was going to be very hard since he was still standing in the doorway, blocking the only exit in the room. And armed with Sasuke's gun.

Madara, however, merely nodded as he lowered the gun again at his side. "Very well. My brother, Izuna killed, Akito Akasuna being the one to blame and I killed him. Things at home, at the Uchiha Compound were turning ugly. My father somehow got the message that I was running a criminal organization. I know who exactly told him too. That fucking mistake, Fugaku." He shrugged as he folded his arms again. "My father blamed me for my brother's death and he disowned me. He simply said that he did not have a criminal overlord for a son. So he wiped me off his will. I was to be the very last one who ever got the Uchiha Fortune. Out of anger for Fugaku, I decided to punish him by taking his younger brother away." He explained.

Sakura's mouth fell open as it hit her. She suddenly remembered Tobi's file, remembered how he had become mentally unstable. She remembered what Kakashi had told her. Her face twisting a little in disgust and rage, she glared at him. "It was you." She said, making Madara raise an eyebrow at her. "It was you who told Obito about the cliffs and the fake crystals. Kakashi Hatake told me that someone told Obito about there being crystals on the cliffs where he......"

"Where he was to stand on the unstable cliff side and fall to his death." Madara finished for her, very dryly. He gave a nod as if to confirm it. "That's correct. My telling Obito about crystals on the cliff in Earth Country was my intentions of having him killed. But he survived. Barely, but he survived. Fortunately for me, he completely lost his mind. He became so mentally unstable that it was impossible for him to collect the Uchiha Fortune when it was time for him to go. As for his plastic surgery that I had him go through, I did it out of pity for him. I also believed it would give me some brownie points to getting back on the will." He shrugged, almost innocently. "Yeah, it did. But I was still to be the last to ever receive the Uchiha Fortune. Fugaku was the first. When the old man died, it was Fugaku who got the fortune. And he told me that I was never to ever touch any of it. He was a greedy bastard and he wanted the money all to himself. He even sent Obito here, to Suna Asylum to make sure that he couldn't collect any of it. His own fucking brother, Sakura. Fugaku even betrayed his own fucking brother. He was not a very nice person as some people thought."

Sasuke's face was turned directly towards him, looking surprised but it was starting to dawn on him. "It was you." He said quietly. "You had Itachi murder our parents."

Madara's mouth curled into a dark smile as he dipped his head into a nod, earning a very dark look from the younger Uchiha. "I had it arranged for one of the biggest child molesters in Konoha to break into the Uchiha Compound and fuck you, Sasuke. Jirobou," His dark eyes flickered over to Sakura, who covered her mouth. "He was suppose to make it look like Fugaku did it. Just for Itachi Uchiha, who was the first on Fugaku's list to collect the Uchiha Fortune. I was the one who stabbed your precious mother, the whore."

"ARGH!" Sasuke roared in rage as he tried to lunge around the table at Madara. His face had turned red with rage as he went to kill his uncle. In truth, he looked like he had just lost his mind. He had forgotten that Madara had his gun.

"Sasuke! NO!" Sakura screamed as she tried to grab for him but Sasori wrapped an arm around her, keeping her back just as the gun went off.

Madara shot Sasuke before he even got close. He didn't aim to kill just yet but shot Sasuke right in the leg, making him scream in pain as he fell straight to the ground. He let out another scream of pain as he reached down and grabbed his leg where had been shot. As for Madara, the doctor moved forward and stepped down onto Sasuke's back, making grunt in pain as he stepped down hard. It was very hard for Sasuke to even breath, even though he did try to wrench free from his uncle's foot. He stopped very quickly when Madara aimed the gun at his head.

Sakura was sobbing by this time, clutching nearly painfully onto Sasori. She didn't even seem to care that he was still naked. She didn't really have time to worry about that. Her hand was covering her mouth, trying to keep herself from screaming as she looked down at Sasuke. "Madara....." She whimpered, before looking at him. "Pl-please, d-don't...."

Madara just let out an impatient sigh before taking his foot off of Sasuke and letting him painfully sit up against the table, glaring up at him. "Still, things were going my way. And as it was for Itachi, I'm the one who told him about Fugaku was hurting Sasuke. Itachi, of course, was very protective over his brother. He didn't believe me until he returned home and found Fugaku sprawled out naked on Sasuke. Sasuke didn't have a clue, of course. He was sedated. He woke up while Itachi went into a blind fit of rage and murdered his own father. He really thought that his father really did rape his youngest son. It was perfect." He turned around and smiled wickedly. "Itachi becoming a murderer and I jumped in to rescue him. I told the courts that Itachi just lost his mind and he shouldn't go to prison. He should go to the Mental Asylum because he was crazy. I made Itachi believe that he should pretend being crazy so that he could be safe. He was too upset to argue so he let me make him into a mentally insane patient. Therefore," His smile grew even more evil. "He had surrender his claim to the Uchiha Fortune. Unfortunately, the next on the list was Sasuke. So he was the next I had to get rid of."

Sakura frowned in bewilderment before looking at Sasuke, who looked just as bewildered but glared at up at his uncle. "What?" He asked, breathlessly.

A colder smile curled onto Madara's face as he nodded, giving Sasuke a very dark look. He just lightly shrugged. "You are the only one that's in my way of collecting what's rightfully mine. The Uchiha Fortune belongs to me. The oldest Uchiha of the entire family. Of course, the one who became my key of Sasuke's downfall," He turned his attention over onto Sakura, smiling darkly. "Sakura Haruno, when I even found out that you were once involved with Sasuke, you gave me the idea."

"Wh-What?" Sakura asked uneasily and in shock.

However, an understanding grew in Sasuke's eyes as something dawned on him. He looked almost stunned at first before his face darkened. "You......." He growled, glaring at Madara. "You fucker. That was your intentions." His eyes shot over to Sakura, giving her a serious look. "Sakura! Madara told me to come to Suna! He told me to come after you!"

Sakura's eyes grew wider as she looked from Sasuke to Madara. "Bu-But....but you told me that you warned Sasuke to not even bother coming to Suna." She told him.

Madara smirked as he folded his arms. "Obviously, I lied. I did suggest to Sasuke that he should follow you to Suna. Try to convince you to return home with him. I knew that you would refuse. Your work was just too important to you here. And I knew that Sasuke would become the jackass he usually is." He shook his head, still grinning wickedly. "His raping you became his undoing. He became a criminal, therefore, he surrenders his claim." He admitted.

"You bastard." Sasuke growled grabbing the table, wincing as he tried to force himself to stand. "You fucking bastard! I will not surrender anything!"

"You, now, have no choice, Sasuke." Madara said almost coyly. "You have an arrest warrant on your head."

Sasori's face hardened as he kept his grip on Sakura's arm. He seemed to have thought of something. "But what about Gaara? He was nearly blamed for attacking Sakura. What was your intentions for him?" He asked, his head dipping lower.

Madara merely shrugged as he lazily looked from Sakura to Sasori then back. He even took the chance of running his hand through his black hair, pushing his bangs out of his dark eyes. "Ah, the involvement of Gaara Sabaku. He was Yondaime Sabaku's son. As I told you, Yondaime intervened with my affairs. Mine and Orochimaru's. We already made it our priority to pay that bastard back. So we came up with the idea to eliminate the entire Sabaku family." His mouth curled into a wicked smile. "Eliminate the Sabaku family, kill Chiyo Akasuna and make sure that the Suna Asylum gets passed onto me or Orochimaru. After all, this is where big money comes from." He explained.

Sasori just watched Madara with a stony face. He had caught onto Madara's words and knew exactly what it was he was trying to say. "So, it was you who had Yondaime Sabaku killed then?" He asked coldly.

Madara looked up at the red head, his dark eyes narrowing a little in thought but he shook his head. "No. That wasn't me. That was Orochimaru. You see, I didn't find out about Yondaime Sabaku's interference until after he was murdered. Orochimaru was still in Suna, of course, working for Yondaime, here at the Asylum. He found out by listening to the dealings going in the Asylum. He overheard Yondaime actually telling Chiyo about it, since he was complaining about Gaara. Again." He said, looking over at Orochimaru.

"Yes." The Mortician agreed, nodding. He was wearing his sly smile as he looked Sasori over, almost enjoying the view of his nakedness and earning a dirty look for it. "I found out about Yondaime interfering with my and Madara's plan and I decided to punish him for it. Of course before it could even happen, his son, Gaara Sabaku was let out of the Corrections Facility and he came home." He shrugged, still wearing his sick smile as he looked right at Sasori. "The boy noticed Kimimaro Kaguya, one of my many professional hit men, always hanging around. He didn't say anything of course. Kimimaro was very good at blending in. Except that one time. I had Yondaime murdered and I had it look like Gaara Sabaku who did it." He sneered. "It was Kabuto, however, who did most of the dealings with Kimimaro.

Sakura was glaring hatefully at Orochimaru. So it was him. It was him who blamed the murder of Yondaime on Gaara and got him into so much trouble. "You." She hissed hatefully.

Orochimaru smirked at her and nodded. "Me." He simply said.

Her face still very cold, Sakura straightened as she dropped her hand from Sasori's arm. She felt her heart grow cold for Madara Uchiha. Colder than she ever felt for Hanataro, Sakon and Ukon, Sasuke. She couldn't believe she had actually trusted this man. She had trusted him, believed him a friend and a colleague and all this time, he was the one behind it all. She felt such a strong hate for him for everything he had done. "I can't believe you, Madara. I thought you were good man." She hissed angrily.

Madara snorted as he looked dully at her, his free hand resting on his hip as he shook his head. "In this world, Sakura Haruno, the good is the weak. This is a world where you have to take what you can. Kill if you have to possess what you desire the most. There is no good in this world. No. Just a bunch of weak ass patriots who fight for nothing. If you want something done, you have to do what you can. Even if that means killing a bunch of punk asses." He smirked as he rose the gun, training it onto her and Sasori again. He smiled when both of them drew back, afraid again. "Don't lecture me about good and evil, Miss Haruno. It won't do any good. And don't worry about Obito. After I blame everything on Orochimaru and Sasuke, come to save you and Sasori but fail, I will be left as the hero of this little misadventure." he explained.

There was a short pause as it hit everyone of what he just said. Orochimaru had been smiling darkly at every word he said, but it was suddenly gone when Madara explained the part about him. He looked at him with alarm. "Wait. What? Madara, what are you....." He was saying.

With a dark gaze flickering over to Orochimaru and a cruel smile on his face, Madara turned the direction of the gun towards the pale Mortician. "Like I said, Orochimaru. You fucked up the plan by turning towards your lust for Sasori Akasuna. So therefore, I have to cut you out, as well. Goodbye, old colleague." He said calmly.

"NO! Wait!" Orochimaru roared as he started to lunge forward.

But the gun went off and the bullet hit the pale doctor in the chest, sending him spinning on his heel and tumbling to the ground with blood spilling from the wound. He was still alive, gasping and sputtering in pain as he clutched onto his chest. His eyes were wide with pain and shock as he looked up at Madara, who moved slightly forward to point the gun at him. "The Devil's minions are still just minions, Orochimaru. Nothing too important." The evil Uchiha sneered before he pulled the trigger again and again, shooting Orochimaru twice in the chest. The Mortician's body jerked several times before he was still. Only a thick puddle of blood spilled across the floor.

At this time, Sakura decided to take matters into her own hands. She waited till Madara's attention was completely on Orochimaru before she grabbed a hold of Sasori's hand, leaning her head towards his. "Sasori, run." She whispered before she tried to bolt with him. She knew it was going to hurt his leg a little and make it tough but they had to get away. Shoving him forward and forcing him to run towards the door, Sakura ran after him, jumping over a surprised Sasuke in the process.

However, Madara saw her at the last minute and proved to be just a little faster. He turned sharply around and raced them towards the door, meeting them there. He swung the gun hard, hitting Sasori across the face and sending him staggering over his own feet until he hit the stone wall with a loud grunt of pain. Sakura screamed in shock as she faltered in her footsteps but she had her own problem to worry about. Madara lashed out and roughly grabbed Sakura by the hair, yanking her back. He earned a loud scream of pain from her and an additional shriek as she fell back towards him. He did not let go but held her hair tightly, yanking it by the roots. "You stupid bitch!" Madara snarled at her as he bent over her, jamming the gun against her head. "You really think I'm just going to let you go when I've told you everything?!"

"Let her go, Madara!" Sasuke yelled as he fought to stand up and come to Sakura's defense. His wounded leg gave out from under him though, causing him to collapse heavily and hit the ground with a loud thud.

The only result to that was Madara snorting with dry humor as he watched his nephew struggle but he chose to ignore him. "Oh, don't you worry, Sasuke. You will be joining your whore of a mother in time. And soon, your brother will follow you. But before I kill him, I think after I kill all of you, I will probably have to shoot myself in a vital area. You know, the whole wounded hero routine. It will be such a shame that I couldn't save," His voice changed a little into a very sympathetic and sorrowful act. "The poor, beautiful doctor, Sakura Haruno, or the new warden of the Suna Asylum, Sasori Akasuna from the three villains, Orochimaru, Kabuto and Sasuke Uchiha. A tragic hero's tale." He remarked before he started to apply pressure on the trigger.

Sakura felt a choking sob erupting from within as she reached back and clutched at Madara's hand, trying to claw at it but it didn't make him loosen his grip at all. She couldn't believe it was going to end like this. She was going to die and she couldn't even fight back. Tightly closing her eyes, she waited for the last thunderous sound of the gun before she would find herself dead.

However, before she heard that, she heard a simple sound that startled not only her, but Madara. She heard someone clapping their hands.

Madara's hand gave a light jerk as his head shot up with surprise. He hadn't been expecting an applause for his wicked deeds. Especially when the sound was coming right in front of him, from the dark hallway. He, like Sakura, Sasori and Sasuke looked over at the door with wide eyes only to see the most un-expecting person to turn that corner.

"Bravo, bravo, Doctor Uchiha." cheered lazily Shikamaru Nara as he eyed the simply stunned Head Doctor as he continued clapping his hands. He moved further into the chamber, smirking as he continued to clap his hands before he dropped them again at his sides. He stuffed one hand into a pocket, pulling out a piece of paper. "Such a great plan. You've definitely got it all worked out. Except for the fact that I'm right here and I heard everything." He said in a lazy tone.

"Shi-Shikamaru!" Sakura cried almost happily but wincing as Madara tightened his hold on her hair.

Shikamaru merely glanced at her, giving her a lazy smile before looking back at Madara. He could have laughed at how shocked the usually friendly doctor looked for him being down there. And Madara was shocked. He didn't understand it. How in the world did the Security Guard get down there?! "Nara?! What are you doing down here?! How did you......?!" He demanded, backing up a little and dragging Sakura with him.

"Find you?" The lazy genius asked, smirking dully before shrugging. He turned his eyes onto the paper in his hand, holding it up for Madara and Sakura to see. It was Chiyo's letter. Only this time, something was circled in red. "You see, there was something else that I missed, Madara. I didn't realize it until I read the letter again and again. I noticed that I missed something. While most of Chiyo's letter is just in bold, italics and underlined, I realized that there was one word and three letters that was typed normally. It doesn't stand out very well unless you really pay attention." He turned his dark eyes back onto Madara, smirking. "It says here, in Chiyo's letter; _'Do not be _mad_, my precious grandson. And do what you were born to do. Th_a_t is to be sma_r_t _a_nd find the killer._' I found that 'mad' was written normally. And so was the two a's in 'that' and 'and'. And so was the r from 'smart'. It was pointing something out so I took 'mad' and the letters and put them together. They spell Madara. Chiyo knew it was you, Madara." He explained.

Madara narrowed his dark eyes as he straightened but shook his head. "Clever. But very confusing." He remarked, still jabbing Sakura in the head with the gun.

Shikamaru nodded as he lowered his hand with the letter, still looking at him, his hand lowering with the letter. "Yeah. I know. I didn't get it until I realized something. We all thought that Sasori went looking for Orochimaru after we figured out that it was him that killed Chiyo. But he didn't go looking for him. He went to his office to look for something. I didn't know what so I went to his office to see if I could find out what he might have been looking for. I found out this huge, very grotesque looking puppet in there. The weirdest thing I ever seen." he shrugged and nodded at the same time when Sasori's eyes lit up as he pulled himself to a sitting position against the wall. "Yeah. I guess that Sasori has this thing for puppets. I asked Kankuro what the hell it was and he said it was some puppet that Sasori liked playing with as a kid. It's name was Salamander."

Sakura's eyes lip up with realization. "Isn't it mentioned......?!" She croaked wincing again as Madara pulled at her hair to shut her up.

Still, Shikamaru nodded with a smug smile on his face. "It was really tricky putting it in there. I was confused of why Chiyo put in the puppet's name, telling Sasori to take care of it. But it kind of dawned on me when Kankuro mentioned that Salamander has a bunch of hidden chambers in its body. He said that Sasori used to hide things in it." He snorted. "It hit me. Chiyo hid something in Salamander." He said before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small hand-held tape recorder. "She left Sasori a little message. Why don't we just have a little listen?"

And he pushed play.

There was a crackle of static at first before Chiyo's voice erupted from the small box.

_"Sasori, if you have found this tape, then I am probably dead. I do not have time to explain everything but I must tell you that you are in a considerable amount of danger. Everyone in the Asylum is in danger. I am recording this late in the evening due to the fact that I have came across several clues of who is killing people in this hospital. I wish I could give all of the details but I do not have time. I have discovered that the so called Devil is Madara Uchiha. I have found proof of this when I checked the time schedules of each and every employee we have here. Every night that a patient was murdered, Madara Uchiha was still in the hospital. I also took the liberty of looking up some contacts of mine who have proof that Madara has been conducting criminal activities. I know because I have spoken to some of his former dealers. I have also uncovered that Orochimaru is his partner as is his assistant, Kabuto. I wish I could have protected you better, Sasori. I should have but I failed. I failed to protect you from the murder of your parents, for I know it was Orochimaru who did it. Your uncle, Yondaime told me so after your parents' murder. Akito had told him who he was working for." _There was a pause on the tape before a low sigh followed. _"Sasori, I have hidden all of the evidence of Madara Uchiha's crimes, as well as the collected proof of Gaara's innocence in his files. Gaara's files. I have left those files to Sakura Haruno to figure out. Please, help her with them. Gaara does not belong in the Asylum anymore than Itachi Uchiha does. Please, Sasori. Secure the safety of the Asylum and its patients. Secure Gaara's future. He is desperately in love with Sakura, and I know she is in love with him. You must have seen the way they look at each other as I have. Please, let them know I give them my blessing and I hope for the best. Welcome Sakura into our family as I welcome Deidara."_

There was a cackling laugh as if Chiyo found something very funny. Sasori definitely looked shocked by what she was saying on the tape as it was. _"Yes, Sasori. I know about you Deidara. I am your Grandmother. I know you best. Do not be ashamed to love someone. Even if it is another man. Oh, god. I guess the message I put on this tape is longer than I anticipated. Heh, heh. All well. I love you, Sasori. I will always be with you in your heart, as your father and mother are." _

The message was completed and then it exploded in Shikamaru's hand as Madara shot it.

Swearing loudly, Shikamaru slapped his hand close to his chest as the debris of the recorder stabbed into his hand, making it bleed. The gunshot at him made Sakura scream again as she watched Madara still point the gun at her lazy friend. "NO!" She screamed.

But there was another gun shot and another as the bullets exploded from the nozzle, hitting Shikamaru in the chest. The security guard's eyes had snapped wide open with shock as he was thrown backwards out into the dark hall.

"SHIKAMARU!! NO!!" Sakura screamed as she watched in horror as Shikamaru went very still against the dark floor. She couldn't see him very well but he wasn't moving or making a sound. She knew he had to be dead. Sobbing, she began thrashing to get away from Madara, not caring that he still held her by the hair. She just wanted to break free and get to Shikamaru, to make sure that he was okay. Madara had a pretty good grip on her hair though, tugging sharply and making her scream in pain. But she didn't care. She kept thrashing and pulling to break free. She could feel some of her hair coming loose.

Click.

For only a brief moment, Sakura froze when she heard the click right next to her ear. She froze, wondering what that noise was until she forced herself to look up to see how pissed Madara looked. He was looking angrily at the gun in his hand, glaring at it as he tried to pull the trigger again. Another click. The gun was empty.

"DAMN IT!" Madara exclaimed before throwing the gun off to the side. "Looks like I will have to kill you the old fashioned way." He growled before grabbing Sakura by the neck with his hands. He began the attempt to choking her. Sakura gasped for air as she went back to thrashing and kicking at him. She felt all of her air being choked off from her lungs and the strength that he had around her throat. She tried to scream as she began clawing at his hands, and felt some satisfaction as Sasori and Sasuke both tried to stand up to come to her rescue. The wounds in their legs were denying them the ability though.

WHAM!!

The fist came right out of the darkness, slamming into the side of Madara's face. The force of the punch sent the doctor nearly rocketing across the room, dragging Sakura a little before he was forced to let her just tumble to the ground, gasping and choking for air. The wicked doctor, however, hit the table hard, causing him to cry in pain as the corner of the table caught his side.

As for Sakura, she was on the ground, gasping for air to replace what she lost. She choked several times as she clutched her throat, ignoring the fact that her broken hand was throbbing with such intense pain. She choked on the dust of that she accidentally inhaled into her before flinching as someone grabbed her. She would have screamed in fear if not for the lack of air. But whoever was touching her didn't pause for a second as he grabbed her arms and pulled her to sit up against his chest. She tried to thrash away from him though.

"Sakura! It's me!" came her red haired angel's deep voice, making her stop immediately to look wide eyed up at him.

Never in her life did Sakura Haruno think she would ever have been glad to see anyone like Gaara. She felt as if she had just had slipped into a dream as she felt his protective embrace all around her. It would have been a cruel dream though. She felt her choking sobs escaping her before she returned to choking on air and crying at the same time. She grabbed Gaara's shirt, holding onto him tightly. "Ga.....Ga-Gaara!" She gasped, still rubbing her sore throat.

Gaara held her ever so closer to him, trying to sooth her fears and pains immediately. He was just so glad that he had arrived in time to stop Madara from killing her. After hearing her screams and running around that corner, he had seen red when he saw Madara choking her. He wanted nothing more to kill the evil doctor. But his fears was mostly on Sakura. He had to make sure that she was okay. At least there was only a little satisfaction in punching Madara. "Shh." He said soothingly as he held her ever tighter before pulling slightly away to look at her tear stained face. "You're safe. I'm here." He told her gently. Then he pulled her into a gentle kiss, trying to soothe her and himself.

"GAARA! LOOK OUT!!" Sasori exclaimed.

During the distraction between Gaara and Sakura, Madara had come to his senses and shook of whatever stars he was seeing after being punched like that. He groaned as he pushed himself to his knees, turning sharply to see who had attacked him. His dark eyes narrowed viciously when he saw Gaara Sabaku near his victim, more or less, just seeing him. With a blind rage, he looked around for any type of weapon to use and spotted the knife that Orochimaru had used. That would do. Grabbing the knife, Madara stood up quickly and went at Gaara with the blade, ready to stab him over and over again for interfering.

Jerking away from Sakura, Gaara turned his stormy gaze onto the threat coming at him, glaring at him as he wrapped his arms protectively around his beautiful doctor. He was not going to let this bastard hurt her again. He would die to protect her, if he needed to. But he was not going to let this monster hurt his pink haired angel.

Before Madara could move any closer, someone leapt into the room and jumped over both Sakura and Gaara, blocking the evil doctor's path. It surprised Sakura to see that it was Itachi and she felt a sudden fear shoot up through her as she watched him charge at his uncle with a dark fury in his eyes. It didn't seem that he cared that there was a knife starting to swing up to meet his chest.

"ITACHI!" Sakura screamed, trying to pull away from Gaara, who kept a firm grip on her.

But before the knife could meet his flesh, Itachi jerked sideward, letting the knife pass right under his arm where he slammed it down over Madara's arm. He caught his uncle's arm tightly with both hands before lashing out with a palm and slamming it against the doctor's face. Any harder, it probably would have killed Madara. Either way, Itachi's palm smashed into his nose, causing it to break and pump blood down his face. "You son of a.......!" Itachi growled as he brought his fist down hard on Madara's elbow, causing him to yell out in pain and drop the knife.

Once the doctor was unarmed, Itachi took the liberty of pulling away from him before he spun around quickly, lashing out a foot to smash against his uncle's head. The impact sent Madara flying to the ground with a loud grunt of pain. As for the elder of the Uchiha brothers, he still stood in a stance as if he was getting ready to kick Madara again. He surely had the look as if he wanted to as he glared down at the rumpled form of his uncle.

"Itachi." Sakura whimpered as she went back to leaning against Gaara.

The spoken person glared at Madara only for a moment longer before he turned around and looked at Sakura. It was only then did he relax and straighten himself from his threatening stance. He moved a little closer to Sakura, looking her over and taking in her injured form with concern. "Sakura, are you all right?" He asked as he dropped down to his knee in front of her.

Sakura hesitated to answering that as she glanced at Gaara. She knew he tended to get a little touchy about another guy going near her. He had glared at Kakashi after Tobi had been attacked but he wasn't this time. He actually looked rather calm about the idea of Itachi moving too close. So obviously, he was accepting her relationship with Itachi. Smiling faintly, Sakura looked back at Itachi, grimacing only a little. "I'm......I hurt my ankle coming down here and Kabuto broke my thumb, but yeah. I think....I think I'm okay now." She said, wincing a little as Gaara took her hand to examine her thumb. She frowned staring at the two. "But how did you......how did you know where to find us?"

The answer came from a groan in the hall, making Sakura's head shoot up as she looked past Itachi with wide eyes. She felt her heart nearly stop when she saw Shikamaru sit up against the wall, wincing as he touched his chest where Madara shot him. "Ow. That fucking hurt." The security guard groaned.

"Shikamaru! Yo-you're alive!" Sakura said in shock and relief.

The lazy genius grimaced as he looked over at her and smirked as he shook his head. "Of course, I'm alive." He grimaced again before pulling open his jacket to reveal his vest. "Heh. Best thing about being a security guard is they do give you bullet proof vests for the job. Never leave home without it." He said chuckling.

Sakura smiled brightly as she shook her head. She was just so happy that he was alive and well. Still, it didn't answer her question. "But what are you guys doing down here? You didn't really answer Madara's question, Shikamaru?" She told him tilting her head to the side.

Again, Shikamaru shook his head as he smirked at her. "Geez. Figure it out, will ya? I listened to Chiyo's tape and so I followed Madara down here. He went sneaking off when no one was looking. No one but me." He then nodded over to Itachi and Gaara as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his radio, which had the call button pressed down with tape wrapped around it. It hit Sakura that every one of the security guards, including Baki, heard the entire thing. "As for them, I used this. The best part about the radios they make me carry around here is it goes two ways. You see, you press this button and it goes right to all of the other radios it's connected to. Duh. Troublesome." He said making it sound so obviously.

Sakura just rolled her eyes before looking at Gaara, who was smirking as he kept his arm around her. She was just so happy to see him. "Gaara." She whispered before throwing her arms around him, hugging him tightly. She yelped in pain because of her hand but ignored it as she held tightly onto him. She felt safe again in his arms.

"Itachi."

Sakura and Gaara pulled away from each other when they heard Sasuke growl out his brother's name. And just seeing the Uchiha, the red haired dangerous patient's eyes narrowed dangerously as a low growl escaped from deep within.

Itachi turned his dark eyes over to Sasuke, meeting his dark gaze before he too looked serious. Pushing himself to his feet, he moved over to where Sasuke was propping himself up against the table, glaring hatefully at his brother. Both brothers stared at one another with dark gazes for a very long time before Itachi's hand lashed out and he slapped Sasuke right over head, surprising everyone but Gaara. Gaara was actually smirking with amusement. "What the hell is wrong with you, Sasuke?!" Itachi suddenly demanded, surprising his brother. "I know mother and father taught you better manners than this!"

"Itachi......" Sakura murmured as she stared up at her brother figure with alarm. She couldn't believe that Itachi had actually slapped his younger brother like that. She hadn't been expecting it.

Sasuke just reached up and touched the area where his brother slapped him though, looking bewildered. "What.....?!" He was demanding.

Itachi gritted his teeth as he lashed out and grabbed Sasuke by the front of his shirt, jerking him closer to him as he glared at him. "Sasuke! You were taught to never, ever lay a hand on a woman!" His words only surprised Sasuke even more but he ignored the look he was getting. He just shook his head as he glared into his younger brother's dark eyes. "And how dare you insult the Uchiha lineage by sexually assaulting a woman?! That is an insult to our family, younger brother!" He growled at Sasuke before giving him a light jerk and forcing him to face Sakura. "You will apologize to Sakura right now or so help me, Sasuke."

The situation was actually hilarious. Even Sakura had to snort as a smile cracked onto her face while Sasuke glared up at his brother, giving him a look as if demanding, 'Are you fucking kidding me?!'

"Sasori!" came Deidara's voice as the blonde, himself came bounding right into the room.

Sakura's mild amusement was immediately gone as she looked around with surprise, noting on how many lights there were now in the dark corridor and there shouts. She ignored them though as she turned to watch Deidara rush over to Sasori and drop at his side. Both of the male couple looked very happy to see each other. Happy enough not to care on how many people were now entering the stone chamber as they grabbed each other's faces and kissed one another.

"Ugh. I don't think I will ever get used to the fact of Sasori being gay." grumbled Gaara before he stood up, helping Sakura standing up.

Sakura laughed as she stood, leaning against him for support. She knew he would get over it. She just shook her head as she held onto him, looking at Sasuke as Itachi dragged him over. She heard Gaara start growling but she shook her head at him as she looked at her Ex.

Sasuke was somewhat forlorn that his older brother, the one he hated was forcing him to apologize to her but as he turned his dark eyes onto her, his dark fury melted away into a look of sympathy. He actually did look sorry. He knew that he had done so much harm to her and now he had to pay the consequences. "Sakura, I'm so sorry. I didn't....I didn't ever want to hurt you." He said quietly.

Staring back at him, Sakura didn't answer but stared at him. She felt Gaara's arms tighten around her and still heard him growling but she could only shake her head as she leaned closer to the red head. "Sasuke, I can't ever forgive you for what you've done." She said, in her own forlorn tone. "You.....you worked with Madara. You almost helped kill Sasori, and Deidara, and Tobi. And even me. For what?" She asked, almost blankly. "Because you can't ever get the fact that I belong to myself. I never belonged to you. You hate Itachi for a reason that you shouldn't. You need help." She told him before looking at Itachi. "And I think you better start listening to your older brother a lot more often."

Itachi's serious frown softened a little before he nodded then looked at Sasuke who tilted his head towards him. Both brothers met each other's gaze before both of them softened. "I'm sorry, Sasuke, for what you believed....."

"Just shut up, Itachi." Sasuke said darkly, now pulling away from him and leaning against the table again. "You heard Madara. The fucker admitted that it was his doing."

Speaking of which, Madara was coming to but he sure got a shock out of his life when Kakashi and Baki both pushed past everyone and roughly grabbed him by his arms. He didn't even have the chance to exclaim in surprise as he was roughly yanked to his feet and slammed against the wall, where Kakashi handcuffed him.

"Madara Uchiha, you are hereby under arrest for several degrees of serial murder, attempted murder, several cases of black mail and theft, robbery, and a lot more to even recall. You have the right to remain silently only. Anything you say or do will be held against you in court." Kakashi said very coldly as he made the cuffs pretty tight.

Madara made a furious sound as he was being yanked towards the door but he tried to yank back. "What are you saying, Hatake?! You have no......!!" He yelling.

Kakashi yanked Madara back and forced him to turn sharply around before slamming his back against the wall while glaring at him. The look on his face was deadly enough as he stepped right up into the criminal doctor's face. "You fucking nearly killed my best friend because of your greed, Madara! And don't deny anything! Because of Shikamaru, we got everything on tape of what you said to Sakura and Sasori! It will hold very well in court and I can guarantee it, that Uchiha Fortune you were willing to kill for will not be touched by you. If any Uchiha gets that money, it will be Itachi or Obito. I will see to it that it does." He said darkly.

For a very tense moment, Madara glared right back at Kakashi. If only looks could kill. After a minute of glaring at the ANBU, he turned his dark eyes over to Sakura, Gaara and everyone else still in the Devil's Whisper chamber. "You really think this ends with me? I'm only the beginning of the nightmare for all of you." He said darkly. "The pain won't stop just yet for you. The true horror is coming you."

"Yeah?" Gaara asked, his sea-foam eyes narrowing darkly. "Well, we'll just see about that, won't we, Uchiha?"

And with that said, Madara was yanked out of the chamber, leaving everyone to look at one another and reunite. Medics did their jobs just fine as they checked everyone out and took care of their injuries. Sasori had been given back his clothes, which he did immediately put back on before joining Deidara to stand with Sakura, Gaara and Itachi as they watched Sasuke's leg be treated before he was arrested. Temari and Kankuro were finally allowed to join them in the room, both immediately greeting Sakura and Sasori with heartfelt tears. Temari, mostly. She threw her arms around both and nearly bawled about how scared she had been for them. Kankuro kept his composure just a little better than her but he did admit that he had been very scared when Sakura went missing. But he was just glad that she and his cousin were safe and sound with only minor injuries.

Either way, everyone was safe again. And so seemed the Suna Asylum and it's patients.


	21. Chapter 21

**Title**: The Devil's Whisper

**Short Summary:** Sakura is a Psychiatrist for a mental hospital for the Konoha Hospital who then gets moved to her dream job in the Suna Hospital for the Criminally Insane to take care of a very dangerous patient named Gaara. WARNING! Sasuke bashing!!

**Pairings:** Sakura/Sasuke (minor), Sakura/Gaara

**Warning:** Story contains implied and/ or scenes of: major language, torture, rape, angst, adult scenes, violence and probably more…

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto, or any of its characters. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

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**Warning: Lemon up ahead.**

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**Chapter XXI**

By the end of the terrifying day, the Suna City Asylum for Mentally Unstable Criminals was more alive than ever. Even more alive since the night that Obito Uchiha was attacked. Most of the patients were locked up in their rooms. All but two. Deidara Iwa and Gaara Sabaku. Both had refused to leave Sakura and Sasori's sides and that did spike up some suspicion from those who didn't know. But in truth, the two couples didn't care at the moment. What surprised them the most was when the medics came up from the Devil's Whisper chamber with the bodies of Kabuto and Orochimaru, one of them were still alive. Obviously it was Orochimaru. But he was barely alive. He had taken a lot of damage to the chest from shot a few times. So he was in critical condition. Still, he was going to be taken to the Suna General Hospital where he would be treated and saved and very well guarded. Once he recovered, he was going to be arrested and tried for all of his crimes.

As it was, Danzo did well with his promise and returned to the Asylum. He did not come back alone though. There were several old folks, along with Tsunade, an ANBU that Sakura recognized as Ibiki Morino and his assistant, Anko, and even her friends had came back to Suna. Everyone was in a frenzy as they buzzed around Sakura, trying to find out if she was all right. They didn't seem to care that Gaara was standing right there, giving Naruto and Neji a dry look.

However, as everyone knew, Danzo was here with the official papers he had promised to bring back. But it wasn't exactly what he wanted. They were a calling for a hearing to discuss the activities of the Suna Asylum. More or less, Danzo was giving Sakura a rather wry look as he finally noticed that Gaara Sabaku had not taken his arm away from her shoulders.

"So, I was correct." The old bastard said, making everyone shush and look at him with alarm or surprise. He was standing in between his two bodyguards, Hanataro and Sai, giving Sakura the most dirty, disgusted look. "So I was correct with the knowledge of you being intimate with one of your patients. I was just wrong on which one."

Wincing, Sakura quickly looked down at Gaara's arm almost painfully. She had been caught finally. "Oh....." She groaned, as her shoulders hunched up a little.

Gaara frowned, but shook his head as he tightened his grip around her shoulders, pulling her right up against him. He received a lot of surprised looks from those who didn't know but he was through with caring. He was already tired of hiding as it was. So it was time to take action. Turning his stormy, sea-foam colored eyes onto Danzo, giving him an uncaring look, the red head just leaned a little over as if to protect Sakura from his burning gaze. "You got a fucking problem with Sakura, Root, you fucking talk to me." He growled.

"Gaara Sabaku, you have no right to say anything. You are mentally unstable criminal who should be back in your room." Danzo said coldly as he gave him a dark look. "Therefore, security! Removed this patient from this site and return him to his room. We will arrange his transportation to the Prison tomorrow morning......"

"No! You will not touch my brother!" Temari said sharply as she moved forward and stood between Gaara and the security, giving them look. She glanced at Kankuro as he quickly joined her to protecting their younger brother and looked even more grateful when Sasori looked very serious as he swiftly moved to stand beside them. "My brother is not going anywhere, Danzo Root!"

Danzo gave them both his sternest look but sharply rapped his cane against the ground as he sharply threw a look at the guards, almost telling them to move past the relatives. The guards didn't move though as Itachi, Shikamaru, Baki and even Kakashi moved to stand with Temari, Kankuro and Sasori. "The whole lot of you are making things very hard for yourselves! You will stand aside and allow Gaara Sabaku to be taken into custody, as well as Deidara Iwa, who will be tried for mental health fraud and more than likely put into prison!" He ordered as he held up the paper. "This Asylum is officially to be shut down....."

Sakura frowned as she pulled free from Gaara and pushed past Temari and Kankuro, giving the old man a very stern glare. She was not going to stand by and let this happen without her saying anything. "My patients aren't going anywhere, Mr. Root." She said sternly.

The dark look was shot at her next as Danzo turned towards her. "They are no longer your patients, Miss Haruno. As you are no longer a doctor. I have reported to the Health Division about your......affairs and they are calling for a hearing to discuss your suspension and perhaps expulsion of your medical license. As I will see to it that you will never work in another hospital again!" He shouted at her.

"YOU OLD BASTARD!!" Naruto growled as he tried to move forward to give the old man a piece of his mind but stopped as Hinata and Ino grabbed his arms. They were still glaring at the old man their selves but they had no place to say anything there.

Gaara growled as he tried to shove past Kankuro next, but both of his arms were caught by him and Baki, holding him back. They both knew very well that if he entered the argument, he would make matters worst. Still, Gaara couldn't stand listening to this asshole yelling at Sakura or threatening to have her removed as a doctor.

And neither could Tsunade.

"That will not happen, Danzo!" The beautiful blonde snapped as she moved to stand between Sakura and the old man, giving him a serious look. "I will not stand by and listen to you snap at my former apprentice and threaten to take away her license just because of her feelings." She turned her head sharply to look at Sakura. "I will admit that becoming intimate with a patient is going beyond the boundaries of the medical field. It is not allowed. It is forbidden. Therefore, Sakura, I want you to answer me honestly. Did you sleep with him?"

The only answer Sakura could even think of giving was wincing and moaning as she lowered her head. She could not lie to Tsunade. She could not just look into her eye and say no.

And that was the only answer that Danzo wanted to hear, or see. He snorted as he smiled dryly and shook his head as he tightened his grip on his cane. "Ah, a sexual intimacy then. That is all we need to hear. Mr. Morino," He glanced over at Ibiki Morino, who looked just as stunned as everyone else as they stared at Sakura with wide eyes. "Have Miss Haruno arrested......."

"No." Kakashi suddenly said very stone like, making all look over at him as he looked directly at Danzo. "You have no authority of having Doctor Haruno arrested, Danzo. You're job description lies on the council of mental health. Therefore you are a judge," He paused shooting up a hand when the old man opened his mouth to argue. "A judge to decide what medical facilities that deserve staying open. The only people who has a right to have Sakura arrested is the family of the patient." He looked over at Temari and Kankuro, whose faces brightened to hear that. "They are responsible for whatever happens to their brother. And they have a right say anything on his behalf as a mental patient. However," He looked back at Danzo before reaching over to another ANBU, who was carrying the evidential files and papers on the case. He glanced at the papers before grabbing the ones he was looking for. "These papers, Mr. Root, are the evidence that will hold up very well in court of Gaara Sabaku's innocence. He never murdered Yondaime Sabaku. We even have a vocal confession from the real killers, Madara Uchiha and Doctor Orochimaru that they are responsible for not only the death of Yondaime Sabaku, but Akito Akasuna, Chiyo Akasuna, several of the patients of the Suna Asylum, and nearly the entire Uchiha family. Fugaku Uchiha, his wife, Mikoto and even the attempted murder of Obito Uchiha, who is now the oldest inheriting Uchiha to receive the Uchiha Fortune. His mental instability is the only thing that is holding him back from collecting the Fortune, therefore, it will be turned over to Itachi Uchiha."

"Mr. Hatake....." Danzo tried to interrupt, in a stern tone.

"Do not interrupt me, Mr. Root. I'm not even close to being finished." Kakashi said dryly as he lowered his hand with the file at his side. "As long as Miss Temari and Mister Kankuro Sabaku gives Sakura Haruno their approval and permission, and with the permission of the warden of the Suna Asylum, who is now Sasori Akasuna, there can be a relationship between a doctor and her patient, who really shouldn't be a patient in the first place. I think you will find that the Mental Health Guide and Rule book holds a rule that there is to be a hearing for Gaara Sabaku's behalf to determine of he is truly mentally unstable. If proven not unstable, he is to be released from the care of the Asylum. He will be cleared of all charges held against him. It's all due to the fact that he is not a murderer. The death of Yashamaru Akasuna, the blood son of Chiyo Akasuna was proven to be self defense by one of the workers at the Sabaku Residence. The worker had came forward in anonymous with the witnessing of the struggle between Yashamaru and Gaara." His face darkened only a little. "It was dismissed by Yondaime Sabaku because he didn't seem to care that his youngest child was being accused of murder. In my professional opinion, which, Danzo, you will find that is very respected, Yondaime Sabaku was a poor excuse for a father if he does not stand up for his own child.

"Continuing that being said, if the family members of Gaara Sabaku and the Asylum warden gives the approval, Sakura Haruno can be intimate with Gaara Sabaku if she wishes. And there is nothing, Danzo, that you can say about that." Kakashi continued before looking over at the other Council members. "Will you concur that, Elders?"

There was a long silence as the old men and women stared blankly at Sakura and Gaara as they thought about everything that was just said. They didn't look as if they were going to agree with Kakashi at all. Glancing at one another, they seemed to be having a silent conversation with one another for a long moment before they looked back around at everyone. No one spoke for a very long moment as they looked around at Sasori, Deidara, then to Temari and Kankuro and finally back to Gaara and Sakura. After a very long moment, one of the Elders, one of the Konoha Elders stepped forward with his hands folded in front of him. "Mr. Hatake, the forbidden relationship between a doctor and her patient is to be professional only. Due to the circumstances, the law states that we shall have Doctor Haruno removed of her medical license and we shall have her arrested."

"Wait! That's not fair!" Naruto exclaimed, looking worried.

"But.....but, but....." Ino started.

Even Temari and Kankuro opened their mouths to argue but stopped immediately when Sasori held up his hand looking at them with a frown. He didn't like it any more than they did. But he knew that the Elder wasn't finished. "Temari, Kankuro, please." He said quietly before looking back at the elder and nodding him to go on.

The Konoha Elder gradually nodded back as he turned his gaze back onto a sorry looking Sakura as she lowered her head, awaiting for the orders of her arrest. "However, I will speak mostly for myself and my fellow Konoha Colleague on the situation, we are both very fond of a strange Romeo and Juliet story twist and it would be a great pity to see that our two couples are torn apart in tragedy. As it is, we have been reading up on Sakura Haruno's files for years now due to the fact that she is Tsunade Orihime's student. She has amazing knowledge over medical situations and it would be a waste of her talent if we take away her license now." He smiled faintly when Sakura's head shot up and she looked at him in astonishment, as did everyone else. "We also have our own contacts and have been observing your work with your patients." He paused before looking over at Itachi. "Itachi Uchiha, you have done very well into playing the part as a mental patient."

Jaws dropped as eyes shot to where Itachi stood, Sakura's especially. She couldn't believe what she just heard, nor could anyone else. Even Danzo looked alarmed as he looked from his colleagues to Itachi. "What?!" he demanded.

Itachi remained stoic as ever as he straightened and folded his hands behind his back as he looked right at the two Konoha Elders. "I'm only glad I could have been some service to you." He then let his dark eyes flicker over to a shocked looking Sakura Haruno and his lips curved upward a bit. "My deception of being a patient here was an order from my employers, Elder Homura and Elder Koharu. They both acquired my services after my trial for murdering my father. They were the only ones who believed that I was influenced to killing my father. They didn't believe that I did it without reason." He explained quietly.

The old woman Elder, Koharu just nodded as she folded her hands together, her ancient eyes flickering over to Danzo, who looked very outraged. And she didn't look sorry at all for it. In fact, she looked smug. "Danzo, you were not included in this little plan because Homura and I didn't see you fit. We know that there is some greed in your heart. So we kept our involving Itachi Uchiha's contract very quiet from you." She looked over at the young Uchiha and smiled. "Homura and I looked over the crime reports and we just did not think it added up very well. I have seen Itachi with his family. Yes, there were some difficulties between him and his father, Fugaku. Fugaku Uchiha, indeed, was not the nicest of men in Konoha City. He did have some darkness in his heart, but it was not enough to cause such harm to his own sons. He has too much pride for that sort. So Homura and I secretly met with Itachi and made a deal with him. Serve as a mentally unstable patient in Suna Asylum and keep an eye on his uncle, Madara Uchiha. We were suspicious of him from the very start when his own father was found dead in his study. I, myself, examined Kenpachi Uchiha's body before the funeral services. What was believed to be a heart attack that killed him, I discovered that it wasn't. Someone poisoned Kenpachi Uchiha. A poison that speeds up the heart rate and because Kenpachi had a bad heart as it was, it caused the heart to fail. Making it look like a heart attack." She explained before looking at Itachi. "We had Itachi become the patient everyone believed him to be to watch the goings on in the Asylum. We were quite suspicious of the murders taking place here."

Homura nodded as he folded his hands in front of him, looking directly at Danzo. "We didn't tell you, Danzo, because you are way too strict and so close minded. You've always hated the Uchiha family as it was, due to who Madara started a romantic relationship with......" He started to say.

"That will be enough, Homura." Danzo said sharply, giving his colleague a very dark look. He was not pleased that these two have kept a secret like this from him and it showed greatly on his face. But he would damned that if he let Homura finish what he was going to say. "My personal life is none of anyone's....."

"And neither is Doctor Haruno's." stated Tsunade, very dryly.

Danzo shook her a look next as he lift his head higher. "Her professional life is our business, Tsunade! She is a doctor and she has become romantic with a patient! A mental patient! That is forbidden! She has taken advantage of her patient and....." He told her sternly.

Gaara finally had enough of this. He couldn't just stand there and listen to the old goat say all of these things about Sakura and then let her be dismissed. "She did not take advantage of me, Danzo Root." He said, more calmly than he felt. His sea-foam gaze was darkening again much like it had when he saw Madara strangling his beloved doctor, but he was doing well to keeping his temper in check. "If anyone took advantage, it was me. Even if Sakura did develop some feelings for me, and I for her, I was the one who came onto her first." He explained seriously.

"Gaara...." Sakura said, sounding terrified for him. She knew he was trying to get himself in trouble and her out of it.

But Gaara silenced her with a mere glance and a soft look in his eyes. He didn't want her to interrupt. Not now. Turning his eyes back onto the elders, he shifted his weight and dropped his arm from Sakura's shoulders. "Must you condemn a person for what they feel? If it's Sakura's safety that you're more worried about, don't. I will never hurt her." He swore, giving them all a very stern look. "But I will not work with anyone but her. She is the only doctor who has ever given me a chance. Because of her, I don't hear voices anymore."

"Ye-ah. Speaking of that," Shikamaru suddenly spoke up, catching everyone's attention as he glanced over at Baki, who snorted and shook his head. He just shrugged as he stepped forward. "As everyone might be aware of, Gaara's always believed he was hearing voices in his room and always thought it was some boogy man named Shukaku." He paused when everyone tensed up and looked at Gaara with alarm. It was only to their surprise when Gaara remained calm and composed unlike how he used to. Shikamaru, however, ignored that as he shrugged again. "I found out that it was a sabotage. I totally forgot to mention it but Baki and I went poking around in Gaara's Isolation cell when he was moved to the third floor and we found a remote controlled radio in there. It's set to play some kind of eerie whispering around midnight to about three o'clock. My guesses it was put in there to make Gaara think he was crazy. So all those voices he thought he was hearing, he was hearing them. So, he's not crazy. Someone was just messing his head. And I'm guessing that it was Madara or Orochimaru. Maybe even Kabuto." He explained.

Sakura looked rather astonished, as did Gaara but neither one spoke as they glanced at one another. Temari and Kankuro looked happier, nonetheless. Sasori just nodded slowly before deciding to speak up next. "It is true that what Sakura and Gaara has done is forbidden and its results would normally be her being fired and he being transferred to somewhere else, but in my opinion," He spoke, his eyes narrowing as he glanced at Deidara before linking his hand with his. "I've done the very same thing as she has. And I do not see you yelling at me for it."

Seriously, everyone thought, Sasori had a point.

Smirking and shaking their heads, the two Suna Elders joined Homura and Koharu's side. "I believe the only reason why we haven't started on you, Mr. Akasuna, is due to the fact, you are very intimidating. And you are Chiyo's grandson." One said, shrugging.

Sasori's eyes narrowed but were full of amusement. "Then I take it, you will only find me too intimidating to let you take away Doctor Haruno's license and you will mind your own god-damned business when it comes to her relationship with Gaara, who is going to be having an evaluation in the next two weeks to determine his mental stature. If he passes the evaluation," He paused for only a moment, which was causing quite a few smiles to curl slyly. "Then he will not longer be a patient here at the Suna Asylum. And if he is not a patient at the Asylum, then his personal life is none of your god damned business." He said, finishing up his lecture with a very cold tone at the end of it.

There was a very long silence as everyone took in his words before the Elders looked at one another, all of them. They were quiet for a very long time, though Danzo looked furious. No one had to say anything before the Elders looked at Gaara and Sakura. Homura nodded as he lift his head higher. "Koharu and I agree," He paused to glance at Danzo then at Sasori. "With Sasori. Let there be an evaluation on Gaara Sabaku. If he fails to meet our expectations, then we will act against this situation. But if he passes our expectations, that will be the end of it." He stated. And Koharu nodded in agreement.

Danzo looked pissed about the idea but didn't say anything. That was just them saying it.

However, the Suna Elders nodded in agreement to Homura and Koharu, as did the others. "Let it be so then. If Gaara Sabaku passes the evaluation, we will overlook the entire matter. As for Doctor Haruno," The male Elder paused looking at the hopeful look on Sakura's face as she clutched onto Gaara and he smiled shaking his head. "She is quite lovely, isn't she? And she's quite a brilliant doctor if she can help all of her patients and discover a terrible conspiracy in the Suna Asylum." He remarked.

Slowly, all of the Elders nodded while Danzo's fury went even higher. "To be honest, I think Doctor Haruno and Mister Sabaku looks rather good together. They make a lovely pairing." Said the female Elder from the Mist council with a smile. She was looking the two over with approval before she turned and started to walk away. "I say we just leave them alone. If Gaara Sabaku turns out to be as sane as Miss Haruno believes, I see no harm in letting them go on with their affair." And she was gone with her colleague.

Sakura's face brightened as she looked up at Gaara, who looked just as surprised but pleased. They, along with several others, were smiling brightly before looking thankfully at the Elders. Of course, Danzo was not one that they were looking pleased with. The old man looked entirely furious before he turned sharply away. "I cannot believe how naive everyone is being into letting her get away with this disgusting act." He growled before slamming his cane down on the ground. "Sai! Haruno! Let's leave now!" He ordered. Sai, of course followed after him, but still looking slightly amused with the entire situation.

Hanataro, however, didn't move as he stared at Sakura, still slightly surprised to learn that she fell in love with a mental patient. He met her eyes and they stared at one another for a long moment. But when Danzo called for him again, demanding he follow, he turned around and looked stonily after him. "Forgive me, Mister Root, sir. But I'm going to have say no."

Danzo halted in the middle of the hall way before turning sharply and giving him a very serious look. "What did you say to me, Haruno?!" He demanded.

Again, Hanataro shook his head as he turned slightly and went over to stand right next to Sakura, who looked very surprised but there was a pleasant look starting to form in her eyes. She was starting to see that her father really had changed over the years. Especially when he was going to stand next to her in this situation. She was especially surprised when he put his arm around her shoulders, topping Gaara's, who also looked surprised. "I said no, sir. I will not just stand here and let you insult my daughter in front of me. What kind of father would I be if I didn't?" Hanataro remarked.

"You surrendered your rights as her father, Haruno!" Danzo snapped, his eye fierce.

Raising his eyebrow, Hanataro just shook his head as he stared directly at his boss. "Yes. I did. But I'm hoping that will be changed. By legal rights, I am not her father. But I think I will leave that up to her." He said, pleasantly as he looked down at Sakura, who still looked up at him in surprise. But slowly, her face softened and she started to smile up at him, which he returned. It only lasted for a moment before he looked sharply at Danzo and shook his head. "Forgive me, sir. But I quit. I will no longer be your bodyguard. I can't be if I do not respect you." He told him, once again surprising everyone.

With a very deadly looked shot at Hanataro, Danzo shook his head as he gripped his cane even tighter in his hand and slammed it heavily onto the tiled floor in rage. "You will not quit, Hanataro Haruno. You are fired." He said acidly before turning and stomping away. Sai did not follow right off but smirked as he nodded to Hanataro. His dark eyes then flickered over to Sakura, who met his gaze. They looked at one another for a moment before he turned and followed after his furious employer.

"Hm. I didn't know Danzo could act so much like a child." said one of the other Elders, the Lightning Elder dryly before shaking his head. He looked around at everyone before leaving his eyes on Sasori. "Suspect the evaluation request papers soon, Sasori. We shall see if what you hope is true. If not, you know what will happen." He then turned and walked away, leading the rest of the elders out.

Sakura let out a long sigh before looking around at everyone, faintly smiling. "I'm sorry, everyone. I shouldn't be a burden and getting you all into trouble." She told them.

Gaara glanced at her before lightly pulling her closer to him, making her yelp as she looked up into his beautiful sea-foam gaze with wide eyes. He was looking at her softly, which surprised most and made some smile slyly. Especially as he reached up and cupped a hand against Sakura's cheek, caressing her skin. "Do not ever refer yourself as a burden again, _doctor_. I will not have it. You are not a burden to any of us. In fact, you are more a savior to most of us." He told her before wrapping his arms around her, ignoring any looks he was getting.

Sasori nodded in agreement as he rest his arm around Deidara's waist, who was grinning at Sakura. They both agreed with Gaara as they looked at her in an almost thankful way. "Gaara is correct, Sakura. You've changed a lot of us if you're not aware of it." He glanced around at everyone before turning his eyes back onto her. "And I know I am not the only one who agrees with that."

"Hell yeah, Sakura." Temari said grinning as she moved a little closer to Shikamaru and leaned against him, causing him to have to wrap an arm around her. "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have met this guy. He's starting to rub off on me."

Sakura just snorted as she found herself having to lean against Gaara. "I really hope not." She told Temari before looking up at Gaara with a faint smile. "Well, I guess you're stuck with me."

Gaara grinned his devilish smile before he tightened his arms around her and lift her up, bringing her closer to his face. "I wouldn't have it any other way, cherry blossom." He told her. And then he dipped his head down until his lips found hers. He didn't care if anyone was watching, and neither did she.

Of course, someone had to interrupt.

"Doctor Akasuna!" said a guard as he ran up, looking flustered and uneasy. And the look on his face starting to make everyone very uneasy. They didn't like the looks of this. "We have a problem."

Sasori sighed as he lowered his arm from Deidara's waist and stepped forward with Temari. They both knew this dealt with both of them. They especially didn't want to hear that they had another problem. "What is it now? Please do not tell me that we have another body lying around somewhere. I think we've had enough of that for now." The new warden grumbled.

The guard hesitated but shook his head as he looked very uneasy about having to tell them this. He knew they were going to be very upset. "Um, no, sir. But......um.....the patient, Hidan.....He's gone." He flinched when several eyes shot over to him but he shook his head. "He isn't the only one missing, sir! It seems that.....it seems that Nagato, known as Pein has also gone. No one knows where they are but I have taken the liberty of looking at the security tapes and....well, Madara Uchiha let them out!" He exclaimed still very uneasy.

There was a very awkward silence as everyone stared at him with wide eyes. That wasn't something they were expecting. Especially the part about Pein. "What do you mean Pein is missing and that it was Madara Uchiha who let him out?" Temari asked, very alarmed.

The guard sighed but shook his head. "As I said. Madara Uchiha released Pein and Hidan from their rooms and now they are gone. I have searched all over the hospital for them but I found evidence of them leaving the Asylum. They are gone." He told her.

"Aw, shit." Shikamaru hissed as he looked away from everyone, his eyes growing wide. "That's what Madara meant. The meaning beneath the meaning." He looked back at everyone. "Didn't Madara say, _the pain isn't over yet?_ Pain. Pein. He was talking about Pein." He told all of them.

Alarmed, Sakura pulled slightly away from Gaara, looking at Shikamaru with alarm. She couldn't believe that. She couldn't believe that Pein could be apart of that. Not after he had admitted that he liked her and the warnings he had given her. How could he be apart of Madara's inner circle? He hadn't done anything to hurt her. "No. There has to be a mistake. How would....why would Pein do anything......He's never done anything to hurt anyone of us or any of the patients! How could he......?" She was saying, her voice trembling a little.

Sasori sighed as he reached up and began massaging the bridge of his nose but then shook his head as he looked at Baki. "Search the Asylum again. Let's just see if Pein really is gone. If he is, then we'll have our answer." He ordered. The security guards only nodded before they hurried off to begin their search. With another sigh, the red head warden just looked around at everyone, shaking his head. "We're all exhausted from the day's events. I think it best if we try and get some rest." he mentioned to them. He paused to glance a mischievous look on Gaara's face when he glanced down at Sakura and his eyes narrowed. "Don't even think about it, Gaara. Right now, you and Sakura cannot afford to sneak off somewhere and fuck each other's brains out. Not until this whole thing is over with."

Sakura felt her face flush hot red while Gaara glared at his cousin. On the other hand, there was a light thump and Naruto yelped when he caught Hinata as she fainted, her face very red from the very thoughts.

Tsunade, like a few, made a face as she eyed Sakura and Gaara. "Geez, Sakura. I can't really believe you actually went and fell in love with one of your patients." She snorted as she looked Gaara over, who eyed her warily as he remained close to the pink haired doctor. "Don't get me wrong though. He is a looker. Definitely a lot cuter than Sasuke, that's for sure." She remarked before letting out a long sigh and turned her eyes onto Hanataro. They both were looking at each other rather warily. "Oh, yeah. Hanataro Haruno. I remember you. The last time I seen you......"

"You grabbed me by the hair and slammed my head against the bars of my jail cell and demanded answers about what happened to Sakura and then I signed the adoption papers over to you." Hanataro said, a light smirk on his face. "I know. I remember you too."

Smirking, Tsunade folded her arms over her chest and shook her head. "Geez. I can't believe you even had the gull to even contact Sakura after all these years, you bastard." She growled at him.

Hanataro shrugged as he glanced at Sakura, meeting her eyes with a gentle smile. "What can I say? I might not legally be her father, but I still sired her. And when I heard that Sasuke Uchiha went and hurt her, it couldn't be helped. I had to come to see her and check up on her." he shrugged again as he stuffed his hands into his pockets before looking at Tsunade. "Hey, Tsunade. With your permission, I'd like to buy you lunch while you tell me how it was like raising her. Tell me what kind of hellion you raised." He told her.

Sakura's jaw fell wide open as she heard that and gave him a look. "Hanataro!" She exclaimed in shock.

"Sure. Why not? As long as your buying and I get to choose the place where we're going." Tsunade told Hanataro as she started walking with him.

"Tsunade!" Sakura gasped as she started to follow only to yelp when Gaara caught her around the waist and pulled her back as he laughed huskily in her ear. "Gaara." She groaned but she melted against him, still a little uneasy that everyone was watching. They didn't care though. They just smiled as they watched her and her lover. Either way, she knew things were starting to change. And perhaps, for the greater good.

Maybe.

* * *

Three months later

* * *

"No. No. No. Maybe. Probably not. Definitely not. Yes. Yes. Hell no. Definitely would not make a good babysitter. Maybe, maybe. Heh, definitely yes. Oh, I would to see him as a housemaid. That would be fucking hilarious." Sakura grumbled as she looked at Help Wanted ads in the newspaper. She couldn't believe this. She was actually looking through the newspaper for a job. How was she resorted to doing this? She really wished he hadn't talked her into this.

Looking for a job for her father was the last thing she wanted to do but he had turned a pretty pathetic puppy dog eyed look onto her that she couldn't say no. It was due to the fact that he'd been getting along with Tsunade and was always hanging out with her and Jiraiya Sage, whom hadn't taken his sudden appearance into Sakura's life too well at first. But then after telling the number one pervert that he had read his Icha Icha books and liked them, a lot, that changed pretty fast for Hanataro. Now, he and her long lost father were discussing ideas for a new book. She couldn't believe Hanataro Haruno. He was actually discussing dirty stories with Jiraiya Sage, and trying to help him write a new book. So far, she heard that he was giving the pervert an idea that sounded oddly like what happened at the Suna Asylum. They were thinking about calling the new book, Icha Icha Insanity.

A story about an eccentric Psychiatrist who goes to work for an All Women's Mental Hospital where he suddenly picks up the habit of watching them as they bathed, dressed, do everything. But above all of the women, there was just one that stood out. Or at least her boobs did. She had the largest chest among all of the other women and a mysterious past that he tries to unlock for her, all the while, fucking her brains out almost every night.

Jiraiya even had the gull to go in the details about what sex positions they should use between the two characters right in front of Sakura. Tsunade really slapped him hard for that one. It actually knocked him out.

It had been three month since Sakura was reunited with her father, Hanataro but it was kind of worth it. At first, she was very uneasy about starting a relationship with him but she could see that he had changed a great deal over the years. She had spent some time with him, talking to him and had learned that he was really was a different person than she remembered.

As it was, the whole incident at the Suna Asylum had made the front page of many newspapers all over. The murders of Suna Asylum was turning into a media phenomena. There had been a lot of reporters who wanted to know what happened and a lot of reporters had gone to Madara Uchiha's trial which had been only the day before. Sakura had not wanted to go. She did not want to see that man ever again. Not if she could help it. She had too much hate in her heart for what he had done and had almost done. So she just had to wait till the news came to her.

The news about Pein and Hidan escaping from the Suna Asylum still came as a shock to her and everyone. To even think about a complete nut case like Hidan out and about scared Sakura. She some respect for him, though she knew she didn't really have a reason. But to think that he might be out there, choosing randomly and sacrificing people gave a reason to pray every night that he would be found.

Luckily for everyone in the public, there had been no news of massacre of sacrificial rituals taking place anywhere. There were people missing and ending up dead in the most horrible ways. It was like Hidan had dropped right off the face of the Earth. And with Pein along with him. Sakura still didn't know exactly how dangerous Pein truly were. And it didn't help the fact that his girlfriend, Konan Tenchi could never be found after he went missing. No one knew where to find her.

Her phone suddenly rang, pulling her out of her thoughts as she circled another job opening for Hanataro. With a light sigh, Sakura reached over and pulled her phone off the hook. "Hello? The Haruno Sensational Partying Flat, Sakura speaking." She remarked in an almost sing song way. She knew who it was anyway.

_"Heh, I still don't see why you want to remain there. You could always move in our place, you know?" _came Temari's voice through the ear piece.

Smiling, Sakura sat up straighter on her bar stool and shoved the newspaper away from her. She was just glad to hear from her Suna City best friend. It had been a while due to the fact that Temari had been busy taking care of the Sabaku finances. "Hey, Tem. I like my apartment, okay? Besides, I don't want to wake up in the middle of the night, hearing Kankuro going at it with some girl. Or two girls at the same time. Again." She said shuddering. "God, I can't believe he had the nerve to do that anyway. So much for that girl, Chiki or whatever her name was. I can't see how you could handle it."

On the other line, Temari laughed. _"Pffft. Believe me, the first few times I heard him having sex with someone, I nearly broke down his bedroom door and told them to shut up. Of course, it didn't really help. So I moved into a room waaaay on the other side of the Mansion. I don't hear them as much." _She laughed again. _"Of course, that one time we decided to have a slumber party, I think he only did it to piss me off." _

Sakura just smiled as she turned on her stool and leaned against her counter, looking at the wall. "Well, still. I don't want to wake up listening to him fucking someone." She paused for only a moment. "So, what's the verdict?"

_"Well, after two weeks of listening to Madara bitch and moan at the jury, it's been settled. He's been found guilty, as so has Orochi-fuck face. As far as we should even care about, Madara's been sentenced to 12 years to life in Prison. I don't think he's getting out for a very long time after Kakashi got through telling and showing all of the evidence to the jury about him." _Temari explained before snorting. _"Oh yeah. You're going to love this, Sakura. The judge took great pity over Obito. Guess what he said?" _She said in a sing song.

"What? What did he say?" Sakura asked, almost laughing to hearing Temari talking like that. It wasn't every day that she got to hear her like that.

_"Weeeellll, he's ordered that Madara donate one of his eyes to Obito Uchiha. In about six months, Obito Uchiha is going to go through an eye surgery and if they do it right, he'll be seeing again. One eye, but he'll have one. God, you should have seen the look on Madara's face. He really loved that one." _Temari said, snorting as if she found it hilarious. _"I've even got a picture of it on my phone so that you can see it when I come over." _

Sakura pulled a face at the thought but had to smile. She was glad to hear that. She had been working with Tobi a lot lately and it had been very difficult. He wasn't taking his new blindness very easily after he recovered. He was always afraid and it was hard to settle him down again. Even with Sakura's help. She had been driven to the point of exhaustion when working with Tobi. It was only luck that he was her only patient to be working with right at the moment. With all of her other patients gone missing, she didn't have much to work with.

Even with Gaara gone now......she hated thinking about that one. Sometimes she missed with working with him.

_"You've gone quiet, Sakura. Let me guess." _Temari suddenly spoke up, her own voice going quiet. _"You're thinking about my baby brother, aren't you?"_

Sakura sighed as she pushed herself off the bar stool and moved over to her couch for a little more comfort. She didn't need to answer that one exactly right off. She knew that Temari was missing him too. After all, Danzo had his way with that one. "I really miss him, Temari. It's been two months since....." Sakura broke off with a deep sigh as she curled her legs under her resting her head against her head and staring at the floor.

There was a long silence between both of the friends on the phone before Temari let out her own sigh. _"How are you coming along without him?"_ She asked gently.

If only Temari could see the painful look on Sakura's face as she curled up a little, now resting her head against her knees. Thinking about what happened with Gaara hurt her enough as it was. She cursed Danzo's name every single time she thought about what he had done. She hated that old man. She knew that both Temari and Kankuro did too. He was responsible for what happened to their younger brother.

"I'm.....I'm trying not let it get to me, Temari. But it's....it's so hard not having him here anymore." Sakura said, her voice breaking a little and her eyes starting to sting with tears. "I miss him so much. Sometimes I always think about that first day we even saw each other." She started to laugh weakly as she remembered the first thing Gaara Sabaku had ever said to her. "I remember how he first looked at me, stared at me with those gorgeous eyes of his. It hurts looking at the ocean or seeing teal without thinking about him. I just....I just hope he doesn't forget about me wherever he is right now."

Temari gave a short laugh on her end of the line. _"Sakura, you took away his virginity. I don't think he'd ever forget you. Even in death, I don't think he could ever forget you. He really loved you. He never said it to you before that old fuck head had him taken away from us, but I'm sure that he's thinking about you right now." _She told her.

Sighing, Sakura lift her head up from her knees. She needed to advert the conversation right now. She couldn't stand talking about Gaara right now. It hurt to think about him being gone. "Enough. I don't want to talk about Gaara right now. How about you? How are you Shikamaru doing?" She asked, wiping her eyes of any tears. She didn't want to cry right now.

_"Oh, god. Did you really have to remind me about that freakin' lazy idiot?"_ Temari groaned.

Sakura laughed as she leaned against the arm of the couch. "Uh-oh. What did he do this time? Don't tell me you guys broke up again." She told her best friend. A groan became her answer and she really did start laughing.

_"Ye-ah. We broke up again. And then an hour after that, we got back together and had sex. I swear to god, he's going to drive me freaking insane!!" _Temari exclaimed on her side of the phone, only making Sakura laugh harder. _"He's so.....so....infuriating!!! He won't let me beat him at Shoji! I can keep up with him at Go and Chinese checkers but seriously! Shoji! And he has the gull to laugh at me when I'm losing!" _

Sakura just laughed again. She loved to hear Temari talking about Shikamaru. They seriously loved pissing each other off. It was hilarious of the Soap Oprah that went off around these two. She thought it was deeply hilarious of how they constantly broke up and then got back together. They must have broke up at least fifty times and gotten back together the same. All in a month. "Geez, what did he do this time, Temari?"

There was a brief silence that made Sakura's smile falter only a little. She hadn't expected Temari go a little quiet like that. It worried her. _"Sakura, I'm late."_ Temari finally said after a very long moment.

Sakura's jaw fell as her eyes snapped wide open. She knew exactly what she was saying. She couldn't help but quickly swing her legs over the couch onto the floor as she sat up straighter. "Oh my god! Are you serious?! Are you.....?!" she asked, trying to keep the excitement out of her voice.

_"I swear to god, Sakura. If I'm pregnant, I will kill him."_ Temari growled, almost savagely. She heard Sakura snort, trying to not to laugh. _"It's not funny! I don't want to have kids right now! I don't even know if I want a baby with Shikamaru Nara! I mean, he's extremely sexy and all but he's so freaking lazy! I know he'd be a good dad someday but...but.....! Urgh!! I mean it, if I'm pregnant, I will savagely torture him until he's begging me to kill him!!" _

Sakura really had to laugh as she listened to her rant and rave about Shikamaru. She could almost see her blonde friend tugging her hair in frustration due to her lazy ass boyfriend. "He might actually think that kind of kinky." She earned a groan from her friend. "Just relax, Temari. I'm sure it's nothing. Believe me, even before I broke up with Sasuke, there had been a few times I was late but nothing happened. I never got pregnant. Which, I am so glad for." She told her.

_"Ugh. You better be sure about this, Sakura. Because I swear....." _Temari went back to growling.

Again, Sakura laughed as she shook her head. "I know, I know. Because if you're pregnant thanks to him, you'll kill him." She paused when she heard a light knock on her door. "Oh, I got to go. Lee's here with my pizza." She said, feeling slightly better.

_"All right. I'll keep you updated once I get done with this fucking pregnancy test. God, why do they have to take so long coming through?" _Temari grumbled before telling Sakura goodbye.

Smiling, Sakura returned the goodbye before hanging up and hurrying over to the counter where her purse was sitting. She knew Rock Lee would probably hijack her pizza bill again and try to pay for it, like always. It had been nearly three months, if not four since she first met him and he still had a huge crush on her. She liked him but she could never share the same feelings as he had for her. He was a good person, not bad looking and he was extremely gentleman like. A very suitable man to date. But she could never give Lee her heart. She had already given her heart to Gaara and she hadn't gotten it back from him, nor did she want it back. Her heart belonged to him only.

Rock Lee knew that but it didn't mean he didn't try.

Going to the door, Sakura pulled out her money and prepared to thrust the bills at him if he tried to run away again without her paying for her pizza. He could be so stubborn at times. Yanking the door open, she almost threw the money at him. "Lee, I know you like to pay for my pizzas but seriously......" She stopped immediately when she saw that it wasn't him.

Beautiful sea-foam teal met the wide emerald green as he turned to look at her, the pizza box sitting on his palm. His devilish smile made her heart turn into a jackhammer as soon as she saw him. Him, with his gorgeous eyes, blood red locks falling around his somewhat pale but beautiful face. Him, looking so delicious by wearing all black, just like how she always saw him in her dreams every night. This had to be a dream. A desirable but sad, cruel nightmare.

"Gaara." Sakura breathed, her mouth falling open as she dropped the money.

Gaara Sabaku smirked at her as he watched how astonished she looked. He had to admit it, she looked so beautiful looking so surprised. He hadn't blamed her for looking so shocked. As far as she had understood it, he had been dragged to almost every mental asylum across the country, thanks to the asshole Danzo Root. Even after he was cleared of all charges of murdering Yondaime, Danzo had requested that Gaara went through several different Psychiatrists to determine if he truly was not insane. It had pissed him off when the courts granted the request. Not only had it pissed him off, but it really had Temari and Kankuro going at the old man. They demanded that the request be called back but the courts wouldn't hear of it. It also upset Sakura greatly. She didn't cry on the outside but he could tell she was on the inside as she watched him being dragged away by Danzo.

So for three months, stuck with the old geezer and Sasori, going from Asylum to Asylum all over, talking to many doctors and shrinks, Gaara had had no choice but to do as he was told. It was only recently did all of the doctors decide that Gaara was very sane and he was released as a new man. Temari and Kankuro had known that Gaara was coming home, of course. But Gaara had asked them not to say anything to Sakura just yet. He had wanted to surprise her.

And judging by the look on her face, she was more than surprised.

"Hello, _doctor._" Gaara spoke, his voice very husky as he looked right into her eyes. He wanted to just grin at her because of the look on her face. And grin he did as he leaned against the door frame, looking so sexy as he held up the pizza. "Pizza delivery."

Sakura still couldn't believe her eyes as she stared at him, breathlessly. She couldn't believe that he was here. He was standing there, holding her pizza. Him. "Gaara...." She breathed again before she reached out and gently touched his face with the tips of her fingers. "I....I....wh-what are you doing here? I thought you.....I thought you were in Mist."

Gaara only smiled as he tilted his head into her hand, enjoying her touch before looking into her eyes with that devilish look again. "I'm done with all of the evaluations. Danzo lost his little game. I'm as sane as any normal person. Somewhat." He said with some humor before he nodded. "Can I come in?"

The answer came quickly as Sakura reached out and grabbed him by the front of the shirt and dragged him into her apartment. He barely had time to catch the pizza, keeping it from falling out of his hand as he was pulled in. Sakura ignored the pizza though, only taking it from him and tossing it onto the couch before quickly shutting the door to her apartment. She proceeded to turning back to him as she pushed him against the wall, clutching his shirt and covering his mouth with her own, kissing him almost hungrily.

Grinning against her lips, Gaara wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her tightly against his body, returning the hungry kiss. He had been waiting to do this all day since he got back into Suna.

Kissing passionately, both Gaara and Sakura pressed their bodies against one another as they fought for dominance. Her hands began to explore his red locks, running through the soft strands as she felt content for the first time in three months. All the while, Gaara's arms loosened only a little as he let them trail down a little to her hips, pressing her closer to him. They were both nearly out of breath within minutes after their passionate fight and finally they pulled away from one another.

"Gaara....." Sakura said breathless as she smiled up at him. "You're home. You're finally back. Are....did you think about me.....I mean.....How did you do?"

Gaara smirked at her as he tightened his grip on her, pulling her even more closer to him, if that was even possible. He just began running his thumb along her skin under the hem of her shirt. "If the evaluations had failed, I wouldn't be here, Sakura. I've passed all of them. The fucker, Root wasn't happy about that. But he has no choice but to drop everything. He can't even say anything about us now. No one cares. No one wants to listen to him. He has no saying about us anymore." He told her in a low voice. "I am no longer a mentally unstable criminal, Sakura. I can finally start over."

Sakura had to smile as she listened to him, feeling her heart beating even faster at his words. She even a little shy to hear him say he was going to start over. "Start over? With everything?" She asked, almost innocently.

Looking into her eyes, Gaara grinned devilishly before he ran his hands to her backside and cupped her butt tightly, earning a squeak from her in the process. "Just about everything." He told her before he swooped down and captured her lips into another blissful kiss. This kiss was almost as passionate as the one before, and just as hungrily. Especially with his roaming hands now sending tingles all through Sakura, making her melt against him.

Smiling just as devilishly as he usually did, Sakura pulled away from him as she quickly looked at her door and placed the dead bolt into place, locking it. Giving him her rather saucy look, she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards her bedroom, which made his sexy grin widen.

Not wasting any time, Sakura pulled him right over to her bed, which she pushed him onto before climbing on top of him, straddling him. She began leaving trails of kisses across his face, always pausing on his lips to share her passion with him. While kissing him, she was concentrating with unbuttoning his black silk shirt, pulling it open so that she could leave a trail of kisses down his neck to his chest. Lost in the passion of her kisses, Gaara moaned as he pressed his head against her mattress, feeling so much pleasure just by her hot lips. His hands eventually found her silky pink hair, now gripping gently at the strands as she continued to pleasure him with kisses across his bare chest. When she closed her mouth around his nipple, that seemed to trigger a primal feeling within him.

Sakura gave a quiet yelp when Gaara grabbed her hands within his before she was flipped right over onto her back and he was on top of her, trapping her body against the bed. There was a low growl deep within his throat as he looked down at her with such a fiery gaze before he attacked her neck with equally fiery kisses. He moved down her neck until he came to the tee shirt she was wearing.

Growling at it, Gaara released Sakura's wrist, other than pulling her slightly up so that he could swiftly remove the offending shirt before tossing it off to the side and attacking her skin once again with his mouth. He nipped at her collarbone sharply, earning a pleasant squeak from her as his hands began working the clasp of her red bra. He was only too pleased to see that it was one of those bras with the clasps in the front. It didn't even take him long to have it removed, revealing her breasts to him. Her skin was a little flushed but even so more beautiful to his eyes.

"God, you are so beautiful, _doctor._"

Sakura smirked up at him as she reached up and began trailing her finger along the lines of his scarred tattoo. "Am I? Have you even looked in the mirror, Gaara? You are the most gorgeous man I've ever seen." She then grabbed at his shirt, tugging it off of him, which he helped her remove it.

Then they were back to kissing passionately as their hands roamed along each other's bodies, pulling at the articles of cloths that they wore. Within minutes, they were soon down to just a thong and black boxer shorts. That was soon taken care of quickly.

Sakura moaned as Gaara's hot mouth sucked at one of her breasts while her fingers dug a little into back as he pleasured her. She felt the heat pool in her stomach when she felt his manhood pressing against her inner thigh. She knew they were getting close to the best part. She could already feel her insides growing so wet and ready to receive him. "Gaara." She groaned before she reached down and gripped him, causing him to growl pleasantly as she began to guide him into her.

With a gentle thrust, Gaara began to move his hips, pushing and pulling into her. He was still attacking her neck with his mouth, licking her skin and nipping at her. His thrusts were slow at first before he began to speed up with primal growls within his throat. Sakura moaned as she felt him pumping within her before she decided to wrap her legs around his waist, giving him full access to going deeper. She had to bite her lip to keep herself from growing too loud as he began to thrust harder and deeper.

"Ooh." She groaned loudly before she throwing her head back into the mattress as his thrusts grew even harder. "Gaara!"

"Sakura." Gaara growled before he sank his teeth into her neck, earning a light pleasurable scream from her.

The sharp pain from his bite sent such exotic sensations through Sakura, pleasing her in such a way that she had never felt before. She felt quite drugged from the passion that she was sharing with her red haired lover. And even more as he continued to nibble her skin, leaving red marks on her neck. She knew that later they would turn into hickeys but right at the moment, she didn't care.

Feeling herself starting to climax, Sakura dug her fingers into Gaara's back, urging him to go faster and harder. Her legs tightened around him as she rocked with him, begging him to go deeper. He complied with another growl as his mouth covered hers, fighting once again passionately with her tongue until he was nearly spent. He pulled away from her as he threw his head back and let out a cry of such pleasure as his finally gave away, spilling his essence within her.

Sakura nearly screamed with him as she tightened her eyes, feeling the hot sensation within her before she began to breath rapidly as she just laid there. She felt Gaara collapse on top of her, resting his head between her head and shoulder, breathing in rhythm with her.

Oh, how she had missed this feeling with him inside of her. She loved the very feeling of him. His naked skin upon hers, his sweet sweat mixing with hers. She knew that she would never feel this way with anyone, ever. No one could ever replace the passion that Gaara gave her. She felt almost complete with him.

Gaara finally lift his head, smirking down at her as he looked into her eyes, seeing the lust and love within the beautiful emerald pools looking up at him with such a sensational look. He felt the primal feeling within him again just seeing how she was looking up at him. He was suddenly realizing, there was no woman that could take her place. He had fallen in love with her. His heart would forever belong to her. "Sakura," He murmured as he lift himself up onto his elbows, pulling out of her so that he could just straddle her on the bed. "I love you."

Her eyes lit up to hear those words and she swore it must have been a dream when she heard them. She had never had anyone tell her those three words. Not Sasuke had ever said them. He had always said that no one could ever love her more than he did. But he never actually said those three words. "Gaara, is this a dream? Did you really....." She whispered to him, her eyes filling with tears.

Smiling down at her, Gaara used a finger to push away her pink strands from her sweaty face before nodding. "I love you, Sakura. I will never love anyone else more than I love you. You are my life now. And I really hope that you will accept me as yours." He told her as he looked into her eyes.

For a few moments, Sakura let his words set into her mind, letting them echo until her heart felt like it was going to burst out of her chest as a wide smile curled onto her face. She let out a light laugh as she threw her arms around his neck, embracing him closer to her, feeling his arms encircling as he joined her in a loving laugh. "I love you too, Gaara! I love you so much!" She cried in happiness before she pulled him into a kiss. She pushed him onto the bed where she proceeded to straddle him, smiling ravenously down at him. "Now, it's my turn to be on top."

"Heh." Gaara chuckled, looking sexily up at her as he rest his hands onto her thigh, moaning quietly when she sank down onto him, letting him penetrate her again. He caught his breath as his eyes fluttered a little before smirking up at her, taking in her gorgeous naked form. "I think I like this view anyway."

And they proceeded to round two.

* * *

Outside the apartment complex, Kankuro, Sasori, Deidara, and Itachi were smirking as they looked up at the door to Sakura's place. It had been in Kankuro's large black, purple tinted H3 hummer did they make sure to get Gaara to Sakura's apartment so that he could surprise her. When Sasori and Gaara had returned, they had made sure to pick up Deidara at his new place, after all, he was no longer a mental patient, himself. It had been Sasori's idea to escort his youngest cousin to his lady in waiting, where they met up with Itachi just outside the apartment, with Rock Lee.

Rock Lee hadn't been entirely happy that he had to surrender the pizza to Gaara but he was sure a little uneasy with him. The red head was kind of creepy. He only did it because Itachi reassured him that Gaara would never hurt Sakura. That, and those teal eyes bearing into him freaked him out. He took off, stating that he needed to get back to work anyway.

As of now, they just watched Gaara walk up to Sakura's apartment, where he disappeared inside. And there was no way in hell that any of them were going to go near that door. Not unless they wanted Gaara glaring at them or maybe Sakura throwing something at their heads.

"Well, our part is done. Let's leave them alone now." Sasori stated as he linked his hand with Deidara's who was grinning.

Kankuro snorted as he heard a distant scream within the apartment and he didn't need to be told what they were doing. His face did heat up only a little to even think about what was going on with his younger brother. "Let's get the hell out of here before I end up with a nose bleed, man." He said before ducking into the driver's seat of his truck.

Sasori, Deidara and Itachi nodded as they moved to the other doors of the vehicle, pulling them open. The Uchiha, however, paused to glance back over his shoulder at Sakura's apartment. He smiled faintly, truly happy to think that Sakura would be happy for the first time in ages. He knew that she had everything she ever wanted but was never actually given because of how overbearing his younger brother had been with her. He regretted the fact that Sasuke was now facing time in prison for his crimes but knew that some day, not for a while, but someday, he would walk out of the prison a new man. Much like what happened with Hanataro Haruno.

But for now, Itachi was content with the fact that he could visit his younger brother any time he wanted, even at Sasuke's request. It was time for them to rekindle their brotherly bond anyway. Even Sasuke admitted that after his own trial. For now, Itachi could survive with the fact that he was in charge of the Uchiha Fortune, along with his uncle, Obito Uchiha, whom he requested to have special treatments on. The eye surgery for one. He was going to do his part into taking care of his family.

"Come on, Itachi, un. Let's let them go at it." Deidara said grinning from the back seat of Kankuro's hummer, where he and Sasori were sitting together. "I wanna go to a club, Danna." He said looking at Sasori, who smirked and nodded.

Breathing in deeply, Itachi turned and climbed into the front passenger seat, still looking up at Sakura's apartment. It was a moment before he tore his eyes away and looked at Kankuro. "I'm going to call Kisame to meet up with us. We can head on over to the Oasis Desert Rose tonight with everyone. Though, I don't think Sakura and Gaara will be joining us tonight. They need their own time to catch up after these past three months." He said chuckling.

"Heh. My little bro needs more time than that. He's got eight to nine years to catch up with all of that shit." Kankuro remarked before he proceeded to driving out of the apartment complex parking lot.


	22. Epilogue

**Title**: The Devil's Whisper

**Short Summary:** Sakura is a Psychiatrist for a mental hospital for the Konoha Hospital who then gets moved to her dream job in the Suna Hospital for the Criminally Insane to take care of a very dangerous patient named Gaara. WARNING! Sasuke bashing!!

**Pairings:** Sakura/Sasuke (minor), Sakura/Gaara

**Warning:** Story contains implied and/ or scenes of: major language, torture, rape, angst, adult scenes, violence and probably more…

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto, or any of its characters. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

**Epilogue**

It was raining outside, as always. It always rained in Ame City. There was hardly ever a day when it was not raining in Ame City, in the County of Rain.

The city was mostly built with metal and stone for anything wooden or concrete would have worn and broke away, not mention would have mold all over it. Concrete was all right to build the buildings with but with so much water always coming down, it would have worn away. Stone took just a little bit longer to wear down.

Ame City also happened to be a very dangerous city to be wandering around in. There were not very nice people there, probably due to the rain constantly falling. It didn't help the people's moods very much. There weren't too many tourist attractions there either. People didn't like dealing with the constant water falling. It, however, was a place where you could find a lot of private clubs, including a lot of bath houses because of all of the water. So normally, some people went to Ame to relax in private bath houses where not many people bothered them.

There was one Bathhouse among many that stood out the most. It was a large building, yet the most exotic. It was nearly five stories high with a Chinese palace look about it. Yet instead dragon guardians all over the roof tops, scaring away bad spirits, there were exotic women statuettes, almost Greek like. Many of the statues had water always pouring off stone plates, protecting the roof from corroding from the constant water. Not that it actually needed it. The roof was protected by stone and obsidian slabs. There were Chinese lanterns hanging from exotic balconies and the roof, protected from the rain by the statuettes. Some of the balconies had out door baths with glass walls, over looking the city. Silky drapes hung over the walls, able to be pulled over them for privacy for the bathers. The build was mostly an exotic red color mixed with gold railings around some of the balconies.

Hanging over the entrance of the Bathhouse, protected from the rain by the roof was a sign; Madam Ai's Exotic Bath house.

It looked like any sensational bath house. But those who did dealings with _Madam Ai_ knew better. This was not just any bathhouse where people came to relax and enjoy their selves. It was a betrothal. A place where men, and even women, with great wealth came to find exotic pleasure. That and more. Those who knew _Madam Ai _did other things than just buy pleasure.

It was here that they came to.

All three, the two men and a lady walked down the rich red corridors, ignoring the seductive music playing that attracted wealth. One of the men and the lady stayed stoic as they walked along one another while the other man was smirking as he looked around. He had caught sight of some of the women working there.

The female workers were dressed in their work attire, which were quite seductive and very suggestive. The uniforms looked more like silk drapes wrapped around them, revealing more skin than was necessary. Some of the uniforms nearly revealed their bottom halves and legs very well, distracting any man that passed. In a way, they looked like seductresses more than workers. Especially with their exotic make up on their faces, rich red lips that were clearly redder than rose petals.

Oh, how Hidan just wanted to get his hands on one of the women. He would have his pleasure first before deciding to sacrifice them to his god. But with a look of warning from Pein, he kept up with the orange haired man and his fucking indigo haired bitch.

The three walked straight up to a large desk where a beautiful woman was working in some kind of log. She was dressed about the same as the other workers, but unlike the others, there was a look of authority about her as her silky raven spilled down her back with golden cords braided into it. This woman looked somewhat like a Greek princess, if not a stern servant. She looked up when the three arrived to her desk.

Taking only one look at Pein, she grabbed the phone on her desk, pressing one button and waiting for the call to connect with who ever she was calling. She turned her dark eyes back onto the three, eyeing all of them for moment before she looked away again when finally someone picked up the phone. "Madam, he's here. Shall I send him up?" She asked whoever she was talking to.

_"Yes, Dager. Bring them up. We are waiting." _came the answer before the line was cut.

The woman, Dager nodded at Pein as she put the head piece back where it belonged before standing up and motioning for them to follow her just as another woman suddenly appeared around the corner. She only paused for a second to point at the chair, getting a nod from her before she started down the hall.

With only a glance at Hidan and Konan, Pein followed after her with the other two trailing behind him.

The walk through the Bath house wasn't too long. The woman, Dager just lead them straight to an elevator, which she boarded with them and went straight up to the top floor. She kept a very passive look on her face, almost completely emotionless as she stared right at the doors of the elevators. Only once did she glance at Hidan when he gave her a low, rude whistle as he was tilting his head to see her ass from under the silk uniform. He was getting a little bit of the view which she completely ignored. She didn't seem to care at all. Her eyes only narrowed once at him before looking forward again. Not even when he decided to reach over and give her ass a sharp slap, she never looked back at him. So obviously, she was used to this.

It was Konan who gave the Jashin Priest an acid like stare before she side stepped to block him from the woman again. He didn't like that but he knew better than to say or do anything to her with Pein there.

Finally after only about a minute of riding the elevator, the doors open and the woman, Dager lead them down a long corridor. This part of the building was where her mistress lived and not to mention did her dealings. Very few were given access to this part of the Bath House. Hidan was the only one glancing around as he followed after Pein and Konan, pausing only once near one open door way where there was a platform and a pole in the middle of the room. It was obviously a strip tease room.

"Hmm. This looks like a place to have a fucking good time in." Hidan remarked, smirking as he looked around. But he then hurried after the other three.

The woman lead the three visitors to a large set of red and golden doors with what seemed to be two stuffed, brilliant white tigers on each side, chained to the walls. They were just sitting there, heads held high, looking forward with golden amber colored eyes and thick chains connected to sharp diamond-studded collars. Hidan had smirked as he looked at the stuffed animals before moving over to get a better look at the diamonds on the collars. He knew that they had to be worth a lot.......

"I wouldn't go near them." The woman warned him.

Too late.

A snarl erupted from the one he was approaching before it sat up, curling back its lips to reveal its sharp fangs. The reaction caused the other tiger to snarl in unison with its partner as it looked savagely at Hidan, who leapt back with a yelp.

"Fuck me! They're fucking alive!! I thought they were fucking dead and stuffed!!"

The woman smirked before she approached the snarling tigers, and held up her hands over their heads. It was honest to say that Hidan had been expecting the tigers to snarl at her and attempt to rip her hands off and eat her. But instead, the tigers' snarl toned down to a growl before they bumped her hands with their heads, a rumbling purr coming from both. She cooed at both of them, bending over each one and bumping her head with theirs, acting as if she was a feline herself. She even purred right back at them before scratching under their chins.

It was then one of the doors open and a tall, but strange looking man stepped out. He was a very unusual looking person, especially to Hidan's standards. Pein and Konan seemed to know him though. He had a deep shade of green hair, almost the color of sea moss with golden eyes. His skin was very odd looking; painted in black and white. Yet, even as odd as he looked, there something gorgeous about him. Perhaps his eyes. Even though he didn't interest Hidan in any way, Konan finally smiled as she looked him over. It was probably the fact that he wore only loose pants and no shirt, revealing quite a nice four pact stomach and chest. He did have a very nice build for someone a little gangly looking.

"Zetsu." Pein finally spoke, his lips curving only the slightest.

The two toned man turned his golden gaze onto Pein and he offered a dangerous smile, revealing a dangerously set of sharp teeth within his mouth. It became very clear to the Jashin Priest that this man was dangerous. Especially when the tigers both cringed back away from him, flattening their eyes and looking slightly nervous of him. **"Welcome back,"**The man spoke, his voice very dark and dangerous. _"We have been waiting for you." _

Hidan did a double take, staring at the man with wide eyes, looking very confused. He wasn't sure if he heard right but he really believed he just heard this man talking with two sets of voices. The first was very dark and dangerous, while the other was calm and almost seductive.

"Is everyone here?" Pein asked, ignoring the fact that the man, Zetsu spoke with two sets of voices.

The dark green haired, two toned man only nodded before he stepped to the side, motioning for them all to enter. Dager, however, didn't move away from the tigers, leaving her hands on one of them and purring gently to them as if trying to sooth their fears of Zetsu. She almost smirked up at the voodooist when he eyed the white tigers uneasily before hurrying after Pein and Konan as they walked right through the doors with no worries of the animals. He shot her a dark look for it but decided that he would punish her later.

The room that three new arrivals entered was very large, yet dark. The only light in the room was coming from a large fire place, where a roaring fire sat behind a thick chain curtain. There was a large glass wall facing a massive balcony, nearly over looking the rain soaked city while huge black velvet drapes were pulled slightly to the side to reveal the view. It was actually very beautiful to see all of the lights of the city at dusk.

Within the room there were several people sitting in the dark shadows, with only the fire lit hitting their eyes yet making it very hard to see their faces. Some were just as tall as the three new arrivals, some were massive in size. One that made even Konan falter when she saw him. He was sitting in the dark, wearing dark gray and his face was hidden under gray bandages, serving as a mask. He was sitting, lazily on a couch, looking very harmless in deed. But knowing who he was made her very uneasy. She tore her eyes away from him when Pein noticed her unease and took her hand, pulling her over to another comfortable couch where they sat. Hidan hesitated before following, sinking down beside Pein as he looked around at the room's occupants.

There was a large chair with a high back facing directly towards the fire. The back curved a little, so it was a little hard to see who was sitting in it from where Pein, Konan and Hidan were sitting. But the expensive black dress told them very well that it was a woman.

"Welcome, Master Pein. I'm glad to see that you've returned." came a seductive but cold voice from the chair. The woman sitting in it didn't even sit up straighter to look around at him. She just stared into the flickering flames, running her fingers through a silky black cat's fur, who was purring loudly as it enjoyed its mistress' touch. "I heard about the situation in Suna City. What happened?"

Pein dipped his head a little lower as he eyed the woman's chair coldly but kept a respective tone around her. "Madara Uchiha failed his objective. He was arrested and tried and sentenced to 12 years to life in the Oni Point Prison, a prison that dwells on a small island just off the coast of Wind and between Tea Country. It's a small island but very dangerous to cross to. The entire island is heavily guarded, if not protected by the sharp rocks surrounding it. If that is not enough, the entire island is complete with high cliffs. There is only beach and that is where the gate sits. No one can reach the prison without authorization and no one has ever escaped and lived." He explained in a dangerously low voice. "I heard Orochimaru is being sentenced there after serving some time in Oto prison. Hmm. Should be interesting to hear what happens when the two see each other there."

The woman in the chair, tilted her head only a little but not enough for anyone to actually see her. She didn't say anything at all though as she just thought about what he said.

Another man in the darkness, a rather pudgy man that clearly loved his wealthy just by the expensive suit he was wearing snorted. It was hard to see him but he was no doubt in his late forties, maybe early fifties. He was being guarded by two men, who were in the light for everyone to see. They were Samurai, no doubt. "Who cares about those two fools? They got their selves in trouble by chasing their own dreams! The question I want to ask is the plan still on schedule?" He asked darkly.

No one spoke for a moment before there came a dark and clearly dangerous "hmph" from the man that had Konan on edge. He still didn't move other than wave a large hand into the fire light. "Like it or not, Madara is needed for this plan. You know that, you idiot." He remarked in a deep voice.

The wealthy man shot him a dark look while his guards, growled as they fingered the empty sheaths at their waists. They missed their katanas, which were suppose to be there. They hated being there so unarmed.

"Enough." The woman in the chair said sharply and everyone settled again. She just inhaled deeply before lightly pushing the cat off her lap, which hopped off and stalked into the shadows out of view. "He is right though, Mr. Gatou. As much as I don't want to agree with Momochi, Madara has the final piece of the plan. Without him, the Hell's Playground operation will not succeed. We will have no choice but to do something about him." She went quiet for a moment before she finally turned slightly in the chair, but still not enough for Pein, Hidan or Konan to see her. "Pein, you and I will come up with that plan. But in the mean time, your mission in Suna. I heard you met her. What is she like?"

Pein was quiet for a very long moment while Hidan, on the other, hand just made a face as he tried to figure out what the hell she was talking about. He was obviously the new member of this dark circle, just by judging the look on his face. "What the fuck are you talking, bit....." He was starting to say.

The woman, Dager, gave a low hiss as she started to step forward but stopped immediately when the woman in the chair shot up a hand, telling her to hold her ground. While Pein, on the other hand, shot Hidan a silencing glare. "Do not refer Madam Ai with such a vulgar name, Hidan." He said in a dark tone. "She might not look it, but she's highly dangerous. As is her workers. You are the newest addition to this underground organization and we don't expect you to know about her just yet, but be careful of what you say around her. This entire bath house is hers to command. And her workers, they be women or not, are just as dangerous as we all are."

Hidan only raised an eyebrow but kept his tongue. He didn't want that look shot at him again from Pein.

Instead, Pein turned his amber eyes back over to the woman in the chair, Madam Ai. He didn't answer right off before lifting his head. "She is very beautiful, intelligent but not as you hope, Madam Ai. She's too timid and not strong enough to do as we do. She would not serve you well." He told her in a low voice.

"Mmm." Madam Ai hummed before she lift a hand and examined diamond studs plastered on rich red fingernails. "We shall see in time then, Pein. Even if she is not what I hope for as one of my women, I can easily break her into becoming one of the others. If she is indeed as beautiful as I, she will bring me much joy."

"You mean fucking more whore money." grumbled another man in the darkness but he was ignored.

Hidan, however, chose to speak up again, glaring at the chair. "What the fuck?" His violet eyes shot over to Pein again, giving him a confused look. "Pein, who the hell is this broad?! Who the hell is she fucking talking about?! If I'm going to be working for you, don't you think I fucking should know what the hell is going on?!" He growled at him.

Something sharp whizzed right by his nose, slicing the tip of it and causing him swear when he felt sharp pain at the end. It only took him a second to realize it was a senbon needle, thrown from a dark corner, causing Hidan to nearly shoot to his feet to go attack who just threw the needle.

But Pein roughly grabbed his wrist and yanked him back down onto the couch next to him. The look on his face was almost too dangerous for the voodooist to like. But either way, even the orange haired man was looking towards the darkness to see someone there.

It was too dark to actually see them but it was a younger person, hard to tell if it was male or female. They had no figure, even if they wore dark colors; Hidan or Pein couldn't tell what colors. They had long black hair though, falling to their lower back, though it was pulled back into a loose pony tail. The face was hidden by a black mask with two white swirls surrounding the eye holes.

"Haku." came the dangerously deep voice of the man called Momochi. He didn't seem to be reprimanding the youth. He sounded to amused to be doing that and everyone was sure he was grinning under that mask of his. "Put your senbon away. You know the rules. No weapons drawn."

The youth straightened before sliding three needles into his belt, where several could be seen. It was no doubt that any guards hadn't seen those needles and that made everyone grow a little tense. "Forgive me then, Senpai Momochi." came a calm, but yet soft voice from under the mask. It was almost feminim but male all together. The youth had to be a boy. And judging by the sound of his voice, he was young, perhaps in his twenties.

"That's enough." spoke Madam Ai again, even as calmly as before. She actually sounded amused by Hidan's words. She was obviously smiling as she tilted her head to the side before she pushed herself to her feet. "He is right, Master Pein. If he is going to be working for you, he should know." She turned looking right at Hidan, whose jaw slowly fell in shock.

Madam Ai was simply one of the most gorgeous women that Hidan had ever seen. She had the body of a seductress and could easily wound a man around her fingers just by looking into their eyes with her seductive dark gaze. Her face as heart shaped and she had the look of a dark angel, with lips painted deep red, light a rich, fresh apple. The gown she wore was very low cut, V shaped and revealing the plump mounds of her chest, yet hiding her nipples within the black fabric. It fell all the way down to her ankles, yet with two long slits on the sides, revealing her legs, covered in black net nylon. There was a long golden chain linked around her neck three times, yet still hanging low in the valley of her breasts where a large pink diamond rest at the center of the valley. Surrounding her gorgeous, dark angelic face was curled bangs from the tight bun of dusty rose colored hair.

If there was another word for the color, Hidan would have called her hair pink. And she looked almost exactly like his fucking former Psychiatrist. Sakura Haruno.

"What the fuck......?!" Hidan muttered in astonishment.

Pein snorted as he closed his eyes and folded his arms across his chest. He was slightly amused by Hidan's shock, while several others rolled their eyes in the dark. He knew exactly what thought was going through the Jashin Priest's head. "It's not her, Hidan. It's not Doctor Sakura Haruno." He reassured him quietly.

A cold smile curled on the woman's face as she tilted her head almost innocently. Though anyone who knew her was very aware that she was far from innocent. "I'm fully aware of how you know my daughter, Jashin Hidan. I have my own connections and I know fully aware that you have met Sakura. And I can guarantee you, you have not yet seen the last of her. She's a very important piece of the Hell's Playground operation, which Pein is to alert you later on in the future." She told him as she turned towards the large glass windows. She smirked as she looked into the dark night, almost searching for the one she was thinking about as her eyes twinkled with almost wicked delight. "Oh, yes, my dear, dear Sakura. Mommy's coming home for you."

**Fin**

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**Author's Note: There will be a sequel called Hell's Playground coming soon.**


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